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Forest fires are a major environmental hazard that threatens ecosystems and biodiversity, especially in Mediterranean regions like northern Jordan. These regions are particularly vulnerable due to their climatic characteristics, vegetation composition, and seasonal dryness, which increase the impact of forest fires. This study assesses the impact of the Yarmouk Forest Reserve fire, which occurred on May 14, 2022, using satellite-derived digital indices. The Yarmouk Forest Reserve represents an important natural ecosystem, making the assessment of fire impacts essential for environmental monitoring and management. Landsat-8 imagery was analysed using geographic information system (GIS) tools to calculate multiple indices: the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), transformed vegetation index 2 (TVI2), land surface temperature (LST), modified bare soil index (MBI), and normalised burn ratio index (NBRI). These indices are widely used to detect changes in vegetation condition, surface characteristics, and burn severity before and after fire events. The greatest observed change was in LST, where the maximum temperature increased from 29.2°C to 37.5°C, indicating a clear thermal response to the fire event. Vegetation indices showed minor declines, with NDVI decreasing from 0.42 to 0.41, reflecting limited but detectable changes in vegetation cover. The burned area showed a noticeable increase in bare soil and burn severity, as indicated by changes in soil-related and burn-specific indices. These results underscore the need for precise, localised fire impact assessments and suggest integrating multi-temporal high-resolution data for future studies to improve the accuracy of fire impact analysis and environmental recovery monitoring.