Wildfires of 2002

Long Mesa Fire

2002ColoradoWildfire

The Long Mesa Fire burned 2,601 acres in Colorado, in 2002. It was discovered on July 29, 2002, and contained on August 11, 2002. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
2,601 acres
Discovered
July 29, 2002
Contained
August 11, 2002
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 2,599 acres. Point of origin as reported, 37.183, -108.417.

The record

Reported final size
2,601 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
2,599 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
2,290 acres
Discovered
July 29, 2002, 1:00 p.m. local time
Contained
August 11, 2002, 6:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Colorado
Land ownership at origin
National Park Service
Reporting unit
Mesa Verde National Park
Agency
National Park Service
Unit
COMVP
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2002-COMVP-000153
MTBS fire identifier
CO3720010848720020729
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
W-253827
Note on the perimeter
From WFMI

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

FireAcresStartCause
Hayman Fire137,760Jun 8, 2002Human
Missionary Ridge Fire73,121Jun 9, 2002Human
James and John Fire33,000Jun 2, 2002Natural
Burn Canyon Fire30,292Jul 9, 2002Natural
Big Fish Fire17,056Jul 19, 2002Natural
Mt. Zirkel Complex (Hinman) Fire16,852Jul 12, 2002Natural
Cheyenne County Fire15,000May 31, 2002Natural
Mt. Zirkel Complex (Burn Ridge) Fire14,403Aug 12, 2002Natural
Spring Creek Fire13,493Jun 22, 2002Natural
Coal Seam Fire12,209Jun 8, 2002Human
Lincoln County Complex10,000May 31, 2002Natural
Million Fire9,294Jun 19, 2002Human

Every fire of 2002 Colorado fire history

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.