Wildfires of 1998

Main Salmon Complex (Rainier) Fire

1998IdahoWildfire

The Main Salmon Complex (Rainier) Fire burned 7,980 acres in Idaho, in 1998. It was discovered on August 7, 1998, and contained on October 19, 1998. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
7,980 acres
Discovered
August 7, 1998
Contained
October 19, 1998
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 8,300 acres. Point of origin as reported, 45.403, -114.805.

The record

Reported final size
7,980 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
8,300 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
10,689 acres
Discovered
August 7, 1998, 1:10 p.m. local time
Contained
October 19, 1998, 5:45 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Idaho
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Bitterroot National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Part of
Main Salmon Complex
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
ID4541611481219980807
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
FS-337718

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 Idaho in 199812

FireAcresStartCause
Tilden 2 Fire22,989Jul 31, 1998Natural
Eagle Two Fire12,607Aug 31, 1998Natural
Buckskin Fire9,918Sep 2, 1998Human
Pocatello Valley Fire8,595Sep 7, 1998Human
Rock Rabbit Fire7,198Aug 11, 1998Natural
North Fork Complex (Sheepeater) Fire5,954Aug 16, 1998Natural
Main Salmon Complex (Bend Creek) Fire4,160Aug 12, 1998Natural
Laid Low Fire3,900Aug 23, 1998Natural
Schofield Fire3,825Aug 7, 1998Natural
Arctic Creek Fire3,760Aug 7, 1998Natural
Lone Pine Fire3,737Aug 10, 1998Natural
Spring Fire3,337Aug 20, 1998Natural

Every fire of 1998 Idaho 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.