Wildfires of 2003

Dotsero Crater Fire

2003Eagle County, ColoradoWildfire

The Dotsero Crater Fire burned 1,232 acres in Eagle County, Colorado, in 2003. It was discovered on July 11, 2003, and contained on July 17, 2003. The cause was recorded as misuse of fire by a minor.

Size
1,232 acres
Discovered
July 11, 2003
Contained
July 17, 2003
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,323 acres. Point of origin as reported, 39.661, -107.028.

The record

Reported final size
1,232 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
1,323 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
1,232 acres
Discovered
July 11, 2003, 2:37 p.m. local time
Contained
July 17, 2003, 9:46 a.m. local time
Cause
Human, Misuse of fire by a minor
State
Colorado
County
Eagle County
Land ownership at origin
Bureau of Land Management
Reporting unit
Northwest District, Grand Junction
Agency
Bureau of Land Management
Unit
COGWD
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2003-COGJD-000284
MTBS fire identifier
CO3966910700920030711
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
W-118831
Note on the perimeter
Full Suppression, Dotsero Crater

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
Bear Creek Wfu Fire1,869Jul 6, 2003Natural
Yankee Gulch Fire1,503Jun 16, 2003Natural

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.