Opinion Fire
The Opinion Fire burned 13,775 acres in Colorado, in 1996. It was discovered on August 3, 1996, and contained on August 9, 1996. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 13,775 acres
- Discovered
- August 3, 1996
- Contained
- August 9, 1996
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 15,616 acres. Point of origin as reported, 40.317, -108.365.
The record
- Reported final size
- 13,775 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 15,616 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 13,109 acres
- Discovered
- August 3, 1996, 3:00 p.m. local time
- Contained
- August 9, 1996, 6:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Colorado
- Land ownership at origin
- Private
- Reporting unit
- Northwest District, Craig
- Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Unit
- COLSD
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- CO4036010831919960803
- MTBS assessment
- Initial
- Fire occurrence record
- W-15747
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
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Creek Fire | 11,875 | May 18, 1996 | Human |
| Canyon Fire | 9,523 | Apr 1, 1996 | Human |
| Hatchet Fire | 5,580 | Jul 23, 1996 | Natural |
| Unnamed Fire | 4,929 | Feb 24, 1996 | |
| Chapin 5 Fire | 4,781 | Aug 18, 1996 | Natural |
| Disappointment Fire | 3,840 | Jul 20, 1996 | Natural |
| Unnamed Fire | 2,693 | Feb 24, 1996 | |
| Unnamed Fire | 2,253 | Feb 18, 1996 | |
| L.d.falls Fire | 2,201 | Jul 6, 1996 | Natural |
| ZENOBIA2 Fire | 2,149 | Jul 12, 1996 | Natural |
| Three Springs 2 Fire | 2,000 | Aug 2, 1996 | Natural |
| Unnamed Fire | 1,845 | Jun 5, 1996 |
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.