But it also offered archaeologists an unprecedented opportunity to view thousands of previously hidden artefacts and earthworks spanning 4,000 years of human life on the moors.
The most exciting discovery was a unique piece of carved sandstone more than 4,000 years old which archaeologists believe may be some kind of map.
They say it has international significance as, unlike other rock art from the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age, the lines of carving are angular rather than curved, similar to designs more often found on pottery.
The blaze in September last year, was the most serious on the moors since 1976 and swept away heather covering a square mile of moorland at Fylingdales, burning down into the peat below.
Experts from English Heritage had to work swiftly and carefully to survey the area – part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The fire exposed the archaeological remains but in stripping away the peat and heather it removed their protection from the elements and put them at risk of erosion.
Now a £200,000 conservation project is under way to restore the delicate ecology of the moors, which in turn preserves the archaeology lying beneath it.
The stone, which has been photographed and laser scanned, has already been returned to the moors.
English Heritage's inspector of ancient monuments, Neil Redfern, said the stone could be a map or an image of a landscape but was sure to provoke debate as it was so unusual.
He said the stone had been reburied as it "belongs on the Moors", adding that putting it in a glass case in a museum would not have made it any more accessible. As it is, the image scanned from the stone may enable a replica to be made.
"The fire had a devastating impact, but it has also revealed an astonishing archaeological landscape," said Mr Redfern.
"When we stepped over the scorched terrain and reviewed aerial photographs, we were confronted by a vast number of features we had no idea existed before.
"To find such well preserved signs of settlement and human activity over such a long period in such a small area is amazing."
Other archaeological discoveries included mesolithic flints, carved rocks, old trackways and waterways linked to the alum industry in the 17th to 19th centuries, as well as slit trenches from the Second World war, when the moors were used as a military training area.
Before the blaze, only 30 scheduled ancient monuments had been designated within the affected area.
The first phase of a three year restoration project was to re-seed grass and heather in the worst affected area. The second stage of re-seeding has begun, using quad bikes to minimise the pressure on the ground which causes erosion.
The grass acts as a "nurse" crop for the heather, sheltering it and helping to hold the surface of the soil together. The blaze destroyed the seed bank in the moors, so seeds have been collected from neighbouring areas.
A protective layer of cut heather, some airlifted in by helicopter, has been spread over vulnerable archaeology and heather bales used to block water erosion channels.
Without this work, much of the newly discovered material would soon be destroyed by the weather. 
The project, which could take a decade to return the moor to its pre-fire state, is a partnership between English Heritage, the North York Moors National Park Authority, English Nature, landowner the Strickland Estate and the Court Leet, an ancient manorial court dating back to the 16th century, which is legally responsible for managing the common land on Fylingdales Moor.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has awarded a £200,000 grant under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.