The Scales Fire
The Scales Fire burned 1,284 acres in Ada County, Idaho, in 1999. It was discovered on August 13, 1999, and contained on August 14, 1999. The cause was recorded as power generation/transmission/distribution.
- Size
- 1,284 acres
- Discovered
- August 13, 1999
- Contained
- August 14, 1999
- Cause
- Human
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,426 acres. Point of origin as reported, 43.429, -116.057.
The record
- Reported final size
- 1,284 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 1,426 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 1,284 acres
- Discovered
- August 13, 1999, 2:16 p.m. local time
- Contained
- August 14, 1999, 9:00 a.m. local time
- Cause
- Human, Power generation/transmission/distribution
- State
- Idaho
- County
- Ada County
- Land ownership at origin
- Bureau of Land Management
- Reporting unit
- Boise District
- Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- ID4341211603219990813
- MTBS assessment
- Initial
- Fire occurrence record
- W-2442
- Perimeter map method
- GPS-Flight
- Perimeter records
- 2 on file for this fire; the largest is shown
- Note on the perimeter
- Unburned Island
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 Idaho in 199912
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mule Butte Fire | 132,208 | Aug 3, 1999 | Natural |
| Cedar Butte Fire | 49,364 | Jul 20, 1999 | Natural |
| Ineel Fire | 43,532 | Aug 21, 1999 | |
| East Slick Fire | 35,041 | Aug 30, 1999 | Human |
| Grandview Fire | 23,007 | Sep 18, 1999 | Natural |
| Wedge Butte Fire | 16,266 | Jul 11, 1999 | Human |
| Norton Creek Fire | 7,878 | Aug 25, 1999 | Natural |
| West Shoofly Fire | 7,502 | Aug 23, 1999 | Natural |
| Whiskey Butte Fire | 7,187 | Jun 24, 1999 | Natural |
| Middle Butte Fire | 6,908 | Aug 23, 1999 | Natural |
| Buck N Doe Fire | 6,455 | Aug 3, 1999 | Natural |
| Broken Wagon Fire | 5,026 | Aug 12, 1999 | Natural |
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.