Wildfires of 1996

Dover Ranch Fire

1996Yellowstone County, MontanaWildfire

The Dover Ranch Fire burned 4,500 acres in Yellowstone County, Montana, in 1996. It was discovered on August 18, 1996, and contained on August 20, 1996. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
4,500 acres
Discovered
August 18, 1996
Contained
August 20, 1996
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 2,671 acres. Point of origin as reported, 45.898, -108.588.

The record

Reported final size
4,500 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
2,671 acres
Discovered
August 18, 1996, 1:00 p.m. local time
Contained
August 20, 1996, 12:00 a.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Montana
County
Yellowstone County
Land ownership at origin
Private
Reporting unit
Southern Land Office
Agency
State or local agency
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
MT4588010858719960818
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
SFO-1996MTSOS000006

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 199612

FireAcresStartCause
Powderville Fire62,000Aug 17, 1996Natural
Rosebud Creek Fire30,700Aug 5, 1996Natural
Shepard Mtn Fire14,890Aug 25, 1996Natural
Rollover Fire10,095Oct 13, 1996Human
Alkalie Fire10,031Sep 11, 1996
Colfax Fire7,162Aug 1, 1996Human
Laststand Fire4,290Jul 22, 1996Human
Coyote Pnf Fire4,283Jun 26, 1996Natural
WarriorsFace Fire4,104Jul 4, 1996Natural
Sharpsfire Fire4,000Aug 14, 1996Natural
Ft. Keogh Fire3,500Aug 9, 1996Natural
Robinson Fire3,500Aug 17, 1996Natural

Every fire of 1996 Montana fire history

Nearby

Sources

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.