Wildfires of 2003

Joel Bertsch 2 Fire

2003South DakotaWildfire

The Joel Bertsch 2 Fire burned 2,700 acres in South Dakota, in 2003. It was discovered on August 23, 2003. The cause was recorded as human.

Size
2,700 acres
Discovered
August 23, 2003
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,459 acres. Point of origin as reported, 45.912, -99.496.

The record

Reported final size
2,700 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
1,459 acres
Discovered
August 23, 2003
Cause
Human, Undetermined
State
South Dakota
Land ownership at origin
Private
Reporting unit
South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression
Agency
State or local agency
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
SD4591309947420030823
MTBS assessment
Initial (SS)
Fire occurrence record
SFO-SD01660303-4130

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 South Dakota in 200312

FireAcresStartCause
Red Point Fire17,568Jul 21, 2003Natural
Papa Fire4,992Aug 13, 2003Human
Jim River Fire4,258Apr 10, 2003Human
Miller Ranch Fire2,500Aug 13, 2003Human
Meat Hook Fire2,339Aug 27, 2003Natural
Hog Fire2,214Aug 25, 2003Natural
Labor Ranch Fire1,600Aug 14, 2003
Supper Fire1,340Aug 13, 2003Human
Hollow Horn Fire1,200Aug 11, 2003Human
Pine Ridge Fire1,200Sep 4, 2003
Bad Bob Fire1,174Apr 12, 2003Human
Cottonwood Creek Fire1,155Aug 3, 2003Natural

Every fire of 2003 South Dakota 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.