Merkley Fire
The Merkley Fire burned 2,190 acres in Idaho, in 1994. It was discovered on July 11, 1994, and contained on July 14, 1994. The cause was recorded as arson/incendiarism.
- Size
- 2,190 acres
- Discovered
- July 11, 1994
- Contained
- July 14, 1994
- Cause
- Human
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 2,092 acres. Point of origin as reported, 42.167, -111.267.
The record
- Reported final size
- 2,190 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 2,092 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 2,449 acres
- Discovered
- July 11, 1994, 6:11 p.m. local time
- Contained
- July 14, 1994, 6:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Human, Arson/incendiarism
- State
- Idaho
- Land ownership at origin
- Private
- Reporting unit
- Idaho Falls District
- Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- ID4217011125519940711
- MTBS assessment
- Initial
- Fire occurrence record
- W-28574
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 Idaho in 199412
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rabbit Creek #1 Fire | 146,400 | Jul 28, 1994 | Natural |
| Corral Creek-Blackwell Complex | 115,659 | Aug 2, 1994 | Natural |
| Chicken Complex | 84,677 | Aug 11, 1994 | Natural |
| Blackwell Complex | 55,549 | ||
| Star Gulch Fire | 30,655 | Aug 19, 1994 | Human |
| Point Well Fire | 21,470 | Jun 30, 1994 | Human |
| Butte City Fire | 21,433 | Jul 1, 1994 | Human |
| Hawley 2 Fire | 13,940 | Jul 27, 1994 | Natural |
| Thunderbolt Fire | 13,400 | Aug 8, 1994 | Natural |
| Cornish Fire | 12,568 | Aug 11, 1994 | Natural |
| West Spr Fire | 8,508 | ||
| Unnamed Fire | 8,378 | May 11, 1994 |
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.