Wildfires of 1998

Oso Fire

1998New MexicoWildfire

The Oso Fire burned 5,185 acres in New Mexico, in 1998. It was discovered on June 27, 1998, and contained on July 8, 1998. The cause was recorded as arson/incendiarism.

Size
5,185 acres
Discovered
June 27, 1998
Contained
July 8, 1998
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 5,293 acres. Point of origin as reported, 36.023, -106.303.

The record

Reported final size
5,185 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
5,293 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
6,513 acres
Discovered
June 27, 1998, 8:00 p.m. local time
Contained
July 8, 1998, 6:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Arson/incendiarism
State
New Mexico
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Santa Fe National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Unit
NMSNF
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
1998-NMSNF-000062
MTBS fire identifier
NM3602110631719980627
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
FS-331629
Perimeter map method
Digitized Other

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 New Mexico in 199812

FireAcresStartCause
Buckeye Fire16,080Jun 16, 1998
Unnamed Fire12,987Nov 13, 1998
Burleson Fire11,002May 3, 1998
Unnamed Fire10,350May 5, 1998
Unnamed Fire7,774May 5, 1998
Keith Fire6,000
Rinker Fire5,199
Heather Fire5,000Jul 14, 1998
Bs Fire4,404Sep 28, 1998Natural
Beard Fire4,323May 10, 1998
Unnamed Fire3,540Jul 15, 1998
Hy Lonesome Fire3,300Feb 24, 1998

Every fire of 1998 New Mexico 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.