South Fork Fire
The South Fork Fire burned 1,033 acres in Montana, in 1998. It was discovered on May 13, 1998, and contained on May 17, 1998. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 1,033 acres
- Discovered
- May 13, 1998
- Contained
- May 17, 1998
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,261 acres. Point of origin as reported, 46.025, -106.573.
The record
- Reported final size
- 1,033 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 1,261 acres
- Discovered
- May 13, 1998, 2:30 p.m. local time
- Contained
- May 17, 1998, 8:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Montana
- Land ownership at origin
- Private
- Reporting unit
- Miles City Field Office
- Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- MT4592410652219980513
- MTBS assessment
- Initial
- Fire occurrence record
- W-6585
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 |
| Challenge Fire | 8,800 | Sep 2, 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 |
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.