Wildfires of 1997

ESCAPE1 Fire

1997TexasWildfire

The ESCAPE1 Fire burned 515 acres in Texas, in 1997. It was discovered on August 5, 1997, and contained on August 6, 1997. The cause was recorded as debris and open burning.

Size
515 acres
Discovered
August 5, 1997
Contained
August 6, 1997
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,021 acres. Point of origin as reported, 29.100, -95.267.

The record

Reported final size
515 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
1,021 acres
Discovered
August 5, 1997, 3:40 p.m. local time
Contained
August 6, 1997, 3:30 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Debris and open burning
State
Texas
Land ownership at origin
Fish and Wildlife Service
Reporting unit
Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge
Agency
Fish and Wildlife Service
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
TX2912109526119970805
MTBS assessment
Initial (SS)
Fire occurrence record
FWS-1997TXBRR2825

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 Texas in 199712

FireAcresStartCause
Throckmorton Fire10,388Oct 13, 1997
Wild Cow Bay Fire10,061Sep 22, 1997
Canadian Fire9,572Mar 26, 1997
Grit Road Fire4,700Oct 20, 1997Human
Mound Fire2,551Aug 25, 1997Natural
Unnamed Fire2,375Jan 3, 1997
Easteasmen Fire2,300Jul 24, 1997Natural
Unnamed Fire2,136Sep 27, 1997
Unnamed Fire1,796Nov 2, 1997
Unnamed Fire1,639Aug 17, 1997
Sea Rim Help Fire1,300Aug 28, 1997Human
Unnamed Fire1,191Jul 27, 1997

Every fire of 1997 Texas 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.