Big Mud Fire
The Big Mud Fire burned 39,186 acres in Alaska, in 2003. It was discovered on June 22, 2003, and contained on September 16, 2003. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 39,186 acres
- Discovered
- June 22, 2003
- Contained
- September 16, 2003
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 40,397 acres. Point of origin as reported, 64.794, -152.692.
The record
- Reported final size
- 39,186 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 40,397 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 40,439 acres
- Discovered
- June 22, 2003, 6:34 p.m. local time
- Contained
- September 16, 2003, 9:00 a.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Alaska
- Land ownership at origin
- Bureau of Land Management
- Reporting unit
- Alaska Fire Service
- Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Unit
- AKTAD
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- Unique fire identifier
- 2003-AKTAD-000331
- MTBS fire identifier
- AK6481715242020030622
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- W-115011
- Perimeter map method
- Image Interpretation
- Note on the perimeter
- Fire perimeter modified using Landsat Image Service.
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 200312
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hadweenzic Fire | 192,489 | Jun 24, 2003 | Natural |
| Erickson Creek Fire | 117,930 | Jun 17, 2003 | Natural |
| Cornucopia Creek Fire | 52,917 | Jun 29, 2003 | Natural |
| Sand Creek Fire | 49,786 | Jun 14, 2003 | Natural |
| Black Hill Fire | 42,745 | Jul 16, 2003 | Natural |
| Kerulu Creek Fire | 40,732 | Jun 18, 2003 | Natural |
| Sheenjek Fire | 25,230 | Jun 27, 2003 | Natural |
| Tsooktuihvun Lake Fire | 6,941 | Jul 22, 2003 | Human |
| Tok River Fire | 5,595 | May 27, 2003 | Human |
| Iliamna Fire | 5,460 | May 23, 2003 | Human |
| Pass Creek Fire | 3,646 | Jun 29, 2003 | Natural |
| Tag River Fire | 2,882 | Jun 18, 2003 | 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.