In situ spatial and temporal temperature measurements of pristine fused silica surfaces heated with a 10.6 μm CO2 laser were obtained using an infrared radiation thermometer based on a mercury cadmium telluride camera. Laser spot sizes ranged from 250 to 1000 μm diameter with peak axial irradiance levels of 0.13–16 kW/cm2. For temperatures below 2800 K, the measured steady-state surface temperature is observed to rise linearly with both increasing beam size and incident laser irradiance. The effective thermal conductivity estimated over this range was approximately 2 W/m-K, in good agreement with classical calculations based on phonon heat capacities. Similarly, time-dependent temperature measurements up to 2000 K yielded thermal diffusivity values which were close to reported values of 7×10−7 m2/s. Above ∼2800 K, the fused silica surface temperature asymptotically approaches 3100 K as laser power is further increased, consistent with the onset of evaporative heat losses near the silica boiling point. These results show that in the laser heating regime studied here, the T3 temperature dependent thermal conductivity due to radiation transport can be neglected, but at temperatures above 2800 K heat transport due to evaporation must also be considered. The thermal transport in fused silica up to 2800 K, over a range of conditions, can then be adequately described by a linear diffusive heat equation assuming constant thermal properties.