Penasco Fire
The Penasco Fire burned 16,020 acres in Otero County, New Mexico, in 2002. It was discovered on April 30, 2002, and contained on June 30, 2002. MTBS dates its ignition to May 8, 2002. The cause was recorded as smoking.
- Size
- 16,020 acres
- Discovered
- April 30, 2002
- Contained
- June 30, 2002
- Cause
- Human
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 14,329 acres. Point of origin as reported, 32.842, -105.617.
The record
- Reported final size
- 16,020 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 14,329 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 15,015 acres
- Discovered
- April 30, 2002, 3:50 p.m. local time
- Ignition (MTBS)
- May 8, 2002
- Contained
- June 30, 2002, 6:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Human, Smoking
- State
- New Mexico
- County
- Otero County
- Land ownership at origin
- Forest Service
- Reporting unit
- Lincoln National Forest
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Unit
- NMLNF
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- Unique fire identifier
- 2002-NMLNF-000008
- MTBS fire identifier
- NM3286810557020020508
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- FS-397310
- Perimeter map method
- GPS - Uncorrected Data
- Note on the perimeter
- Fire perimeter from GPS
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 New Mexico in 200212
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ponil Complex | 92,194 | Jun 3, 2002 | Natural |
| Middle Fire | 37,600 | Mar 31, 2002 | Natural |
| Walnut Fire | 31,000 | Jun 27, 2002 | Natural |
| Number 52 Fire | 16,422 | Mar 23, 2002 | Human |
| Cherry Fire | 15,850 | Jun 4, 2002 | Natural |
| Cub Fire | 13,525 | Jun 30, 2002 | Natural |
| Borrego Fire | 12,995 | May 22, 2002 | Human |
| Cerro Pelon Fire | 8,260 | Jun 2, 2002 | Natural |
| Tejon Fire | 7,420 | Jun 25, 2002 | Natural |
| Kenton Fire | 6,815 | Jun 1, 2002 | Natural |
| Trampas Fire | 5,800 | Jun 15, 2002 | Natural |
| Middle Tank Fire | 4,274 | Apr 23, 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.