Birch Fire
The Birch Fire burned 20,100 acres in Alaska, in 1999. It was discovered on June 15, 1999, and contained on July 27, 1999. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 20,100 acres
- Discovered
- June 15, 1999
- Contained
- July 27, 1999
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 17,218 acres. Point of origin as reported, 65.300, -144.786.
The record
- Reported final size
- 20,100 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 17,218 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 17,548 acres
- Discovered
- June 15, 1999, 12:56 p.m. local time
- Contained
- July 27, 1999, 5:55 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Alaska
- Land ownership at origin
- Bureau of Land Management
- Reporting unit
- Alaska Fire Service
- Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Unit
- AKUYD
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- Unique fire identifier
- 1999-AKUYD-00B295
- MTBS fire identifier
- AK6529514488719990615
- MTBS assessment
- Extended (SS)
- Fire occurrence record
- W-1834
- Perimeter map method
- Mixed Methods
- Note on the perimeter
- Fire perimeter modified using Landsat Image Service and MTBS-Alaska data. Image ID: LE07_L2SP_067014_19990910_20200918_02_T1.
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 Alaska in 199912
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevinjik Fire | 232,828 | Jun 20, 1999 | Natural |
| Kink Fire | 92,010 | Jun 12, 1999 | Natural |
| Uvgoon Creek 2 Fire | 88,345 | Jun 26, 1999 | Natural |
| Melozi Moran Fire | 59,239 | Jun 27, 1999 | Natural |
| LowerLadue Fire | 57,576 | Jun 12, 1999 | Natural |
| Jessica Fire | 48,759 | Jun 13, 1999 | Natural |
| Witch Fire | 46,956 | Jun 12, 1999 | Natural |
| Pingo Fire | 38,174 | Jun 13, 1999 | Natural |
| Upperwestfork Fire | 35,874 | Jun 12, 1999 | Natural |
| Big Creek Fire | 28,634 | Jun 27, 1999 | Natural |
| Mt.terrel Fire | 27,354 | Jun 12, 1999 | Natural |
| Mosquito Fire | 26,199 | May 15, 1999 |
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.