Wildfires of 1999

Kirk Complex (Five) Fire

1999CaliforniaWildfire

The Kirk Complex (Five) Fire burned 23,761 acres in California, in 1999. It was discovered on September 8, 1999, and contained on November 19, 1999. MTBS dates its ignition to September 9, 1999. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
23,761 acres
Discovered
September 8, 1999
Contained
November 19, 1999
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 36,149 acres. Point of origin as reported, 36.268, -121.617.

The record

Reported final size
23,761 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
36,149 acres
Discovered
September 8, 1999, 9:00 p.m. local time
Ignition (MTBS)
September 9, 1999
Contained
November 19, 1999, 6:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
California
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Los Padres National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Part of
Kirk Complex
Other fire reports inside the burned area
Five
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
CA3627912162519990909
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
FS-344565

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 California in 199912

FireAcresStartCause
Megram- Orleans Fire124,898Aug 23, 1999Natural
Willow Fire65,000Aug 28, 1999Human
Gun 2 Fire60,390Sep 28, 1999Human
Kirk Complex (Hare) Fire49,551Sep 13, 1999Natural
Sixteen Fire40,000Oct 16, 1999Human
Mhrd Complex (Bucks) Fire34,175Aug 23, 1999Natural
Pine Fire30,568Aug 22, 1999Natural
Jones Fire26,202Oct 16, 1999Human
Tehama-Glenn Complex (Dehaven Gulch) Fire17,000Aug 23, 1999Human
Big Bar Complex (Onion) Fire16,732Aug 23, 1999
Spanish Fire14,537Jul 18, 1999Human
Bohemotash Fire14,090Aug 23, 1999Natural

Every fire of 1999 California 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.