Big Fish Fire
The Big Fish Fire burned 17,056 acres in Colorado, in 2002. It was discovered on July 19, 2002, and contained on November 1, 2002. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 17,056 acres
- Discovered
- July 19, 2002
- Contained
- November 1, 2002
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 17,272 acres. Point of origin as reported, 39.994, -107.287.
The record
- Reported final size
- 17,056 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 17,272 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 17,054 acres
- Discovered
- July 19, 2002, 1:03 p.m. local time
- Contained
- November 1, 2002, 9:04 a.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Colorado
- Land ownership at origin
- Forest Service
- Reporting unit
- White River National Forest
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Unit
- COWRF
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- Unique fire identifier
- 2002-COWRF-000518
- MTBS fire identifier
- CO3999910724920020719
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- FS-381993
- Note on the perimeter
- Fire Use
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 Colorado in 200212
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hayman Fire | 137,760 | Jun 8, 2002 | Human |
| Missionary Ridge Fire | 73,121 | Jun 9, 2002 | Human |
| James and John Fire | 33,000 | Jun 2, 2002 | Natural |
| Burn Canyon Fire | 30,292 | Jul 9, 2002 | Natural |
| Mt. Zirkel Complex (Hinman) Fire | 16,852 | Jul 12, 2002 | Natural |
| Cheyenne County Fire | 15,000 | May 31, 2002 | Natural |
| Mt. Zirkel Complex (Burn Ridge) Fire | 14,403 | Aug 12, 2002 | Natural |
| Spring Creek Fire | 13,493 | Jun 22, 2002 | Natural |
| Coal Seam Fire | 12,209 | Jun 8, 2002 | Human |
| Lincoln County Complex | 10,000 | May 31, 2002 | Natural |
| Million Fire | 9,294 | Jun 19, 2002 | Human |
| Unnamed Fire | 8,688 | Jun 1, 2002 |
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.