Wildfires of 1996

Seal Fire

1996NevadaWildfire

The Seal Fire burned 3,000 acres in Nevada, in 1996. It was discovered on September 10, 1996, and contained on September 12, 1996. The cause was recorded as human.

Size
3,000 acres
Discovered
September 10, 1996
Contained
September 12, 1996
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 4,080 acres. Point of origin as reported, 39.337, -117.841.

The record

Reported final size
3,000 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
4,080 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
4,415 acres
Discovered
September 10, 1996, 1:47 p.m. local time
Contained
September 12, 1996, 6:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Undetermined
State
Nevada
Land ownership at origin
Bureau of Land Management
Reporting unit
Carson City District Office
Agency
Bureau of Land Management
Unit
NVCCD
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
NV3932211784119960910
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
W-17570

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 Nevada in 199612

FireAcresStartCause
Upper Humboldt Complex (Dutch Flat) Fire67,643Aug 26, 1996Natural
Quinn-Odell Fire58,307Aug 26, 1996Natural
Upper Humboldt Complex (Slaven 2) Fire35,932Aug 26, 1996Natural
Winnemucca Complex (Bloody Run) Fire33,665Aug 26, 1996Natural
Division Fire30,450Aug 1, 1996Natural
Frenchie Fire29,135Sep 10, 1996Natural
Bobs Flat Fire27,972Aug 26, 1996Natural
Upper Humboldt Complex (Getchell) Fire26,598Aug 26, 1996Natural
Winnemucca Complex (Winnemucca) Fire21,367Aug 26, 1996Natural
Humboldt Fire18,800Aug 12, 1996Natural
Rainbow Complex (Mule) Fire17,400Jun 7, 1996Natural
Upper Humboldt Complex (North Chimney) Fire16,600Aug 26, 1996Natural

Every fire of 1996 Nevada 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.