Helen Creek Fire
The Helen Creek Fire burned 8,497 acres in Montana, in 1994. It was discovered on August 16, 1994, and contained on October 2, 1994. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 8,497 acres
- Discovered
- August 16, 1994
- Contained
- October 2, 1994
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 7,066 acres. Point of origin as reported, 47.710, -113.332.
The record
- Reported final size
- 8,497 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 7,066 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 8,349 acres
- Discovered
- August 16, 1994, 4:00 p.m. local time
- Contained
- October 2, 1994, 10:00 a.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Montana
- Land ownership at origin
- Forest Service
- Reporting unit
- Flathead National Forest
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- MT4771411327319940816
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- FS-287568
The three sizes are three measurements: the size the agency reported when the fire was out, the burned area MTBS drew from satellite imagery before and after, and the GIS area inside the final perimeter, unburned islands included. They rarely agree exactly.
Other large fires in Montana in 199412
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baby Dean Fire | 60,300 | Sep 8, 1994 | Human |
| Black Butte Fire | 12,500 | Sep 8, 1994 | Natural |
| Ck Creek Fire | 11,067 | Aug 3, 1994 | Natural |
| Little Wolf Fire | 10,610 | Aug 15, 1994 | Natural |
| Koocanusa Complex (North Fork Big Creek) Fire | 9,000 | Aug 15, 1994 | Natural |
| Henry Peak Fire | 8,203 | Jul 26, 1994 | Natural |
| North Fork Complex (Adair Ii) Fire | 8,055 | Aug 12, 1994 | Natural |
| Mcdonald Fire | 7,494 | Aug 15, 1994 | Natural |
| Grierson Fire | 6,400 | Aug 22, 1994 | |
| Yaak-Red Dragon Complex (Sheep) Fire | 5,897 | Aug 15, 1994 | Natural |
| Cunningham Fire | 5,000 | Sep 9, 1994 | |
| Niarada Fire | 4,268 | Jul 26, 1994 | Human |
Nearby
Sources
Perimeters from the National Interagency Fire Center’s Interagency Fire Perimeter History, compiled from the Forest Service, BLM, BIA, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, the Alaska Interagency Fire Center and CAL FIRE. Burned areas and ignition dates from Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS), a program of the US Geological Survey and the USDA Forest Service. Fire reports from Short, Karen C. 2022, Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014], 6th Edition, Forest Service Research Data Archive, doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6. Records before 2014 were joined by this site: a fire report to the burned area its MTBS identifier names, a perimeter to the burned area it lies in when the names or the sizes agree.