Moose Lake Fire
The Moose Lake Fire burned 117,920 acres in Alaska, in 2002. It was discovered on July 17, 2002. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 117,920 acres
- Discovered
- July 17, 2002
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 118,836 acres. Point of origin as reported, 63.591, -152.676.
The record
- Reported final size
- 117,920 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 118,836 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 118,335 acres
- Discovered
- July 17, 2002, 5:48 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Alaska
- Land ownership at origin
- National Park Service
- Reporting unit
- Denali National Park and Preserve
- Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Unit
- AKTAD
- Part of
- Minchumina Group
- Incident type
- Wildland fire use
- Unique fire identifier
- 2002-AKTAD-000417
- MTBS fire identifier
- AK6355515284120020717
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- W-270334
- Perimeter map method
- Image Analysis
- Note on the perimeter
- EDC Satellite perimeter using 7/22/2003 satellite image, NPS
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 Alaska in 200212
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geskakmina Lake Fire | 257,549 | Jun 8, 2002 | Natural |
| Reindeer Fire | 226,833 | Jul 17, 2002 | Natural |
| Vinasale Fire | 189,688 | May 22, 2002 | Human |
| Yetna River Fire | 152,962 | Jul 18, 2002 | Natural |
| Sischu Fire | 128,983 | Jun 5, 2002 | Natural |
| Milepost 78 Fire | 115,328 | May 23, 2002 | Human |
| Colorado Creek Fire | 84,015 | May 26, 2002 | Natural |
| Long Creek Fire | 74,931 | Jul 21, 2002 | Natural |
| Galatea Creek Fire | 74,511 | May 22, 2002 | Natural |
| Windy Fire | 69,523 | Jul 17, 2002 | Natural |
| Spurs Fire | 64,834 | May 15, 2002 | Human |
| Bear Creek Fire | 59,939 | May 26, 2002 | Natural |
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.