Potato Creek Fire
The Potato Creek Fire burned 3,708 acres in South Dakota, in 2002. It was discovered on April 17, 2002, and contained on April 19, 2002. The cause was recorded as equipment and vehicle use.
- Size
- 3,708 acres
- Discovered
- April 17, 2002
- Contained
- April 19, 2002
- Cause
- Human
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 2,737 acres. Point of origin as reported, 43.364, -102.014.
The record
- Reported final size
- 3,708 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 2,737 acres
- Discovered
- April 17, 2002, 3:02 p.m. local time
- Contained
- April 19, 2002, 11:59 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Human, Equipment and vehicle use
- State
- South Dakota
- Land ownership at origin
- Bureau of Indian Affairs
- Reporting unit
- Pine Ridge Agency
- Agency
- Bureau of Indian Affairs
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- SD4353410202520020417
- MTBS assessment
- Initial
- Fire occurrence record
- W-314354
- Note on the perimeter
- Post-Refl img most useful for viewing boundary. dNBR doesnt clearly define burn.
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 South Dakota in 200212
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laplante Fire | 14,224 | Jun 29, 2002 | Human |
| Battle Creek Fire | 12,443 | Aug 16, 2002 | Human |
| Grizzly Gulch Fire | 11,589 | Jun 29, 2002 | Human |
| Wanna Fire | 7,505 | Aug 18, 2002 | Human |
| Russell Ehlers Fire | 7,000 | Feb 2, 2002 | Human |
| Cottonwood Fire | 6,656 | Aug 3, 2002 | Human |
| Evergreen Fire | 4,000 | Jun 29, 2002 | Human |
| Looking Fire | 3,004 | Jul 29, 2002 | Human |
| Painter Fire | 2,500 | Jul 16, 2002 | Human |
| Travers Fire | 2,400 | Jul 16, 2002 | Human |
| Cedar Canyon Fire | 2,000 | Jul 14, 2002 | Human |
| Bad Nation Fire | 2,000 | Jul 29, 2002 | Human |
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.