Wildfires of 1999

Powder River Complex

1999Powder River County, MontanaWildfire

The Powder River Complex burned 6,480 acres in Powder River County, Montana, in 1999. It was discovered on August 27, 1999, and contained on August 29, 1999. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
6,480 acres
Discovered
August 27, 1999
Contained
August 29, 1999
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 3,744 acres. Point of origin as reported, 45.752, -105.436.

The record

Reported final size
6,480 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
3,744 acres
Discovered
August 27, 1999, 8:10 p.m. local time
Contained
August 29, 1999, 9:00 a.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Montana
County
Powder River County
Land ownership at origin
State
Reporting unit
Miles City Field Office
Agency
Bureau of Land Management
Part of
Powder River Complex
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
MT4555910515719990827
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
W-3840

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 199912

FireAcresStartCause
Fishel Creek Fire33,000Jul 24, 1999Natural
Anaconda Fire10,812Aug 6, 1999Natural
Johnstone Fire7,800Oct 31, 1999Human
Outlook Fire6,952Oct 31, 1999Human
Antelope Fire5,113Oct 31, 1999
Christmas Fire4,400Dec 16, 1999Human
Pine Ridge Fire3,900Aug 20, 1999Natural
Mill Iron Fire3,800Oct 31, 1999Human
Horse Thie Fire3,500Jul 24, 1999Natural
Teddy Creek Fire2,516Oct 14, 1999Human
Halloween Fire2,436Oct 31, 1999Human
Edgar Fire2,173Oct 31, 1999Human

Every fire of 1999 Montana 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.