Wildfires of 1996

Hatchet Fire

1996ColoradoWildfire

The Hatchet Fire burned 5,580 acres in Colorado, in 1996. It was discovered on July 23, 1996, and contained on July 29, 1996. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
5,580 acres
Discovered
July 23, 1996
Contained
July 29, 1996
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 5,686 acres. Point of origin as reported, 39.400, -108.667.

The record

Reported final size
5,580 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
5,686 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
5,504 acres
Discovered
July 23, 1996, 2:30 p.m. local time
Contained
July 29, 1996, 6:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Colorado
Land ownership at origin
Bureau of Land Management
Reporting unit
Northwest District, Grand Junction
Agency
Bureau of Land Management
Unit
COGRD
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
CO3938610865019960723
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
W-15975
Note on the perimeter
Full Suppression

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 Colorado in 199612

FireAcresStartCause
Opinion Fire13,775Aug 3, 1996Natural
Buffalo Creek Fire11,875May 18, 1996Human
Canyon Fire9,523Apr 1, 1996Human
Unnamed Fire4,929Feb 24, 1996
Chapin 5 Fire4,781Aug 18, 1996Natural
Disappointment Fire3,840Jul 20, 1996Natural
Unnamed Fire2,693Feb 24, 1996
Unnamed Fire2,253Feb 18, 1996
L.d.falls Fire2,201Jul 6, 1996Natural
ZENOBIA2 Fire2,149Jul 12, 1996Natural
Three Springs 2 Fire2,000Aug 2, 1996Natural
Unnamed Fire1,845Jun 5, 1996

Every fire of 1996 Colorado fire history

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.