Wildfire, Rio Blanco
- When
- August 14, 1:30 PM MST to 2:00 PM MST
- Where
- Rio Blanco County, 30 mi SW of Meeker
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 39.980, -108.217 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in Colorado, August 14, 1998
Lightning strikes ignited four fires in the Piceance Basin. The fires burned 30 to 40 acres of brush and trees.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS GJT wrote it up.
Lightning strikes ignited four fires in the Piceance Basin. The fires burned 30 to 40 acres of brush and trees.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Damaging Wind in Texas, August 14, 1998
- Lightning Strike in Colorado, August 14, 1998
- Lightning Strike in Florida, August 14, 1998
- Flash Flood in South Carolina, August 14 to 15, 1998
- Hail in Nebraska, August 14, 1998
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in Nevada, August 14, 1998
- Flooding and Hail in Iowa, August 14, 1998
- Flash Flood in Texas, August 14, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Wisconsin, August 14, 1998
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in Nevada, August 14, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Florida, August 14, 1998
- Damaging Winds in Florida, August 14, 1998
More
Every storm in Colorado in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, August 1998
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5664374.