Wildfires of 2003

Bear Creek Wfu Fire

2003ColoradoWildland fire use

The Bear Creek Wfu Fire burned 1,869 acres in Colorado, in 2003. It was discovered on July 6, 2003, and contained on July 21, 2003. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
1,869 acres
Discovered
July 6, 2003
Contained
July 21, 2003
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,871 acres. Point of origin as reported, 37.506, -107.530.

The record

Reported final size
1,869 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
1,871 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
1,869 acres
Discovered
July 6, 2003, 8:30 p.m. local time
Contained
July 21, 2003, 8:30 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Colorado
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
San Juan National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Unit
COSJF
Incident type
Wildland fire use
MTBS fire identifier
CO3750410751520030706
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
FS-386729
Perimeter map method
GPS - Uncorrected Data

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 200312

FireAcresStartCause
GarCo 5 Fire5,292Jul 8, 2003Human
Unnamed Fire4,000Aug 25, 2003
Overland Fire3,869Oct 30, 2003Human
Hamilton Fire3,211
Unnamed Fire3,000Jul 19, 2003
Moccasin Fire2,744Jul 15, 2003Natural
Unnamed Fire2,500Dec 14, 2003
Bolt Fire2,160Jul 26, 2003Natural
Unnamed Fire2,100Oct 10, 2003
Hamilton Fire2,009Jul 19, 2003Natural
Yankee Gulch Fire1,503Jun 16, 2003Natural
Unnamed Fire1,500Jul 19, 2003

Every fire of 2003 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.