Wildfires of 2002

Birch Fire

2002OregonWildfire

The Birch Fire burned 1,001 acres in Oregon, in 2002. It was discovered on July 23, 2002, and contained on July 24, 2002. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
1,001 acres
Discovered
July 23, 2002
Contained
July 24, 2002
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 7,122 acres. Point of origin as reported, 45.596, -118.820.

The record

Reported final size
1,001 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
7,122 acres
Discovered
July 23, 2002, 8:00 p.m. local time
Contained
July 24, 2002, 3:00 a.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Oregon
Land ownership at origin
Private
Reporting unit
Mid Columbia National Wildlife Refuge Complex
Agency
Fish and Wildlife Service
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
OR4561511888020020723
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
FWS-2002ORMKR1566

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 Oregon in 200212

FireAcresStartCause
Biscuit Complex (Biscuit) Fire499,945Jul 13, 2002Natural
Tool Box Complex (Tool Box) Fire54,800Jul 12, 2002Natural
Boulder Fire48,080Jul 13, 2002Natural
Trimbly Creek Fire42,543Jul 13, 2002Natural
Grizzly Complex (Winter) Fire33,894Jul 12, 2002Natural
Mahogany Complex (Atkins Butte) Fire32,812Jul 15, 2002Natural
White River Fire28,500Jul 23, 2002Natural
Timbered Rock Fire27,351Jul 13, 2002Natural
Monument-Malheur Complex (Monument) Fire24,667Jul 12, 2002Natural
Grizzly Complex (Silver) Fire24,565Jul 13, 2002Natural
Eyerly Complex (Eyerly) Fire23,573Jul 9, 2002Natural
Wiinter Fire19,561

Every fire of 2002 Oregon 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.