Chitanana River Fire
The Chitanana River Fire burned 59,063 acres in Alaska, in 1996. It was discovered on June 17, 1996, and contained on September 23, 1996. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 59,063 acres
- Discovered
- June 17, 1996
- Contained
- September 23, 1996
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 58,369 acres. Point of origin as reported, 64.866, -151.920.
The record
- Reported final size
- 59,063 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 58,369 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 58,037 acres
- Discovered
- June 17, 1996, 9:11 p.m. local time
- Contained
- September 23, 1996, 8:00 a.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Alaska
- Land ownership at origin
- Bureau of Land Management
- Reporting unit
- Alaska Fire Service
- Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Unit
- AKTAD
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- Unique fire identifier
- 1996-AKTAD-632482
- MTBS fire identifier
- AK6486615192019960617
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- W-13484
- Perimeter map method
- Image Interpretation
- Note on the perimeter
- Fire perimeter modified using Landsat Image Service. Image ID: LE07_L2SP_073014_19990702_20200918_02_T1.
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 Alaska in 199612
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mile Creek Fire | 66,560 | May 29, 1996 | Human |
| Big Creek Fire | 48,600 | Jun 16, 1996 | Natural |
| A 508 Fire | 41,410 | Jun 19, 1996 | Natural |
| Slender Smoke Fire | 39,660 | Jul 11, 1996 | Natural |
| Monkey Girl Fire | 39,116 | Jun 16, 1996 | Natural |
| Millers Reach 2 Fire | 37,336 | Jun 2, 1996 | Human |
| Circ Mountain Fire | 34,665 | Jun 18, 1996 | Natural |
| Deadman Island Fire | 33,490 | Jun 19, 1996 | Natural |
| Wein Lk Fire | 25,433 | Jun 17, 1996 | Natural |
| A 521 Fire | 22,666 | Jun 21, 1996 | Natural |
| Crooked Creek Fire | 17,510 | Jun 6, 1996 | Human |
| Hillbilly Lake Fire | 14,200 | May 10, 1996 | Human |
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.