3 Mile Fire
The 3 Mile Fire burned 3,164 acres in Dawson County, Montana, in 2003. It was discovered on August 27, 2003, and contained on August 29, 2003. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 3,164 acres
- Discovered
- August 27, 2003
- Contained
- August 29, 2003
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 3,390 acres. Point of origin as reported, 47.283, -104.880.
The record
- Reported final size
- 3,164 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 3,390 acres
- Discovered
- August 27, 2003, 6:00 p.m. local time
- Contained
- August 29, 2003, 10:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Montana
- County
- Dawson County
- Land ownership at origin
- Private
- Reporting unit
- Miles City Field Office
- Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- MT4729410486020030827
- MTBS assessment
- Initial (SS)
- Fire occurrence record
- W-120058
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 Montana in 200312
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri Breaks Complex | 125,900 | Jul 19, 2003 | Natural |
| Germaine Fire | 66,497 | ||
| Robert Fire | 57,273 | Jul 23, 2003 | Human |
| Wedge Canyon Fire | 50,981 | Jul 18, 2003 | Natural |
| Lincoln Complex (Snowbank) Fire | 37,405 | Aug 13, 2003 | Natural |
| Hobble Fire | 36,180 | Aug 8, 2003 | Natural |
| Indian Fire | 33,955 | ||
| Fish Creek Complex (Thompson Creek) Fire | 33,948 | Aug 10, 2003 | Natural |
| Big Coulee Fire | 29,492 | ||
| Cooney Ridge Fire | 25,680 | Aug 8, 2003 | Natural |
| Littlehawk Fire | 25,490 | Aug 12, 2003 | Natural |
| Mineral-Primm (Mineral and Primm) Fire | 25,202 | Aug 9, 2003 | Natural |
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.