Wildfires of 1998

West Unit Fire

1998TexasOther fire

The West Unit Fire burned 2,858 acres in Texas, in 1998. It was discovered on October 22, 1998, and contained on October 23, 1998. The cause was recorded as human.

Size
2,858 acres
Discovered
October 22, 1998
Contained
October 23, 1998
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 2,523 acres. Point of origin as reported, 29.689, -93.888.

The record

Reported final size
2,858 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
2,523 acres
Discovered
October 22, 1998, 8:00 p.m. local time
Contained
October 23, 1998, 7:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Undetermined
State
Texas
Land ownership at origin
Private
Reporting unit
Texas Point National Wildlife Refuge
Agency
Fish and Wildlife Service
Incident type
Other fire
MTBS fire identifier
TX2969109393119981022
MTBS assessment
Initial (SS)
Fire occurrence record
FWS-1998TXTPR2419

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 Texas in 199812

FireAcresStartCause
Ciblo Creek Fire55,375May 30, 1998
FRITCH2 Fire20,000Apr 2, 1998Human
Paducah Fire12,651Jul 3, 1998
Palo Doro Fire5,000Jun 29, 1998Human
Unnamed Fire4,588May 16, 1998
Unnamed Fire4,499Dec 30, 1998
Unnamed Fire3,613Jul 26, 1998
Unnamed Fire3,470Jul 10, 1998
Unnamed Fire3,242Jul 19, 1998
Unnamed Fire2,700Apr 5, 1998
Unnamed Fire2,510Sep 12, 1998
Unnamed Fire2,401Sep 5, 1998

Every fire of 1998 Texas 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.