Blackfoot Lake Complex (Beta Lake) Fire
The Blackfoot Lake Complex (Beta Lake) Fire burned 2,615 acres in Montana, in 2003. It was discovered on August 19, 2003, and contained on October 28, 2003. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 2,615 acres
- Discovered
- August 19, 2003
- Contained
- October 28, 2003
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 5,443 acres. Point of origin as reported, 48.334, -114.014.
The record
- Reported final size
- 2,615 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 5,443 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 5,231 acres
- Discovered
- August 19, 2003, 10:00 p.m. local time
- Contained
- October 28, 2003, 4:30 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Montana
- Land ownership at origin
- Forest Service
- Reporting unit
- Flathead National Forest
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Part of
- Blackfoot Lake Complex
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- MT4831511401720030819
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- FS-391198
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
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.