Wildfires of 1998

RL3 Fire

1998MinnesotaWildfire

The RL3 Fire burned 6,000 acres in Minnesota, in 1998. It was discovered on March 16, 1998, and contained on March 19, 1998. The cause was recorded as debris and open burning.

Size
6,000 acres
Discovered
March 16, 1998
Contained
March 19, 1998
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 14,884 acres. Point of origin as reported, 48.117, -95.300.

The record

Reported final size
6,000 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
14,884 acres
Discovered
March 16, 1998, 9:00 p.m. local time
Contained
March 19, 1998, 12:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Debris and open burning
State
Minnesota
Land ownership at origin
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Reporting unit
Red Lake Agency
Agency
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
MN4810309539819980316
MTBS assessment
Initial (SS)
Fire occurrence record
W-378042

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 Minnesota in 199812

FireAcresStartCause
Unnamed Fire5,140Apr 25, 1998Human
Units 1617 Fire4,651Apr 12, 1998
16 A Fire4,250Apr 24, 1998
Unnamed Fire1,920Apr 23, 1998Human
Unnamed Fire1,280Apr 24, 1998Human
Units 23 A Fire1,265Apr 23, 1998
Lee Fire1,135Apr 23, 1998
RL336 Fire1,122Apr 25, 1998Human
Andreasen Fire1,002Apr 22, 1998
Unnamed Fire1,000Mar 30, 1998Human
Unnamed Fire827Apr 25, 1998Human
West Skunk Fire750Mar 19, 1998Human

Every fire of 1998 Minnesota 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.