Challenge Fire
The Challenge Fire burned 8,800 acres in Montana, in 1998. It was discovered on September 2, 1998, and contained on October 9, 1998. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 8,800 acres
- Discovered
- September 2, 1998
- Contained
- October 9, 1998
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 8,045 acres. Point of origin as reported, 48.267, -113.377.
The record
- Reported final size
- 8,800 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 8,045 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 8,007 acres
- Discovered
- September 2, 1998, 4:00 p.m. local time
- Contained
- October 9, 1998, 6:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Montana
- Land ownership at origin
- Forest Service
- Reporting unit
- Flathead National Forest
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- MT4827011332819980902
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- FS-339450
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 199812
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bradshaw Fire | 20,921 | Aug 31, 1998 | Natural |
| Kootenai Complex (Mcdonald) Fire | 8,758 | Aug 30, 1998 | Natural |
| Boyer Creek Fire | 7,038 | Sep 2, 1998 | Human |
| Burnt Shed Fire | 6,356 | Sep 8, 1998 | Natural |
| Sandburn Fire | 5,680 | May 17, 1998 | Natural |
| Herman Rid Fire | 4,926 | Sep 1, 1998 | Natural |
| Bitterroot Complex (North Rye) Fire | 3,950 | Sep 2, 1998 | Human |
| Dome Fire | 3,340 | Sep 2, 1998 | Natural |
| Bowl Mtn Fire | 3,070 | Aug 9, 1998 | Natural |
| Pocket Creek Fire | 2,395 | May 27, 1998 | Natural |
| Garfield Fire | 2,050 | Jul 14, 1998 | Natural |
| Cherry Spg Fire | 2,000 | Aug 31, 1998 | Natural |
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.