Wildfires of 2003

Hamilton Fire

2003San Miguel County, ColoradoWildfire

The Hamilton Fire burned 2,009 acres in San Miguel County, Colorado, in 2003. It was discovered on July 19, 2003, and contained on July 27, 2003. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
2,009 acres
Discovered
July 19, 2003
Contained
July 27, 2003
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,849 acres. Point of origin as reported, 38.017, -108.453.

The record

Reported final size
2,009 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
1,849 acres
Discovered
July 19, 2003, 2:50 p.m. local time
Contained
July 27, 2003, 5:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Colorado
County
San Miguel County
Land ownership at origin
Bureau of Land Management
Reporting unit
Southwest District, Montrose
Agency
Bureau of Land Management
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
CO3799710845420030719
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
W-117860

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
Bear Creek Wfu Fire1,869Jul 6, 2003Natural
Yankee Gulch Fire1,503Jun 16, 2003Natural
Unnamed Fire1,500Jul 19, 2003

Every fire of 2003 Colorado fire history

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.