Wildfires of 2003

Sand Creek Fire

2003AlaskaWildfire

The Sand Creek Fire burned 49,786 acres in Alaska, in 2003. It was discovered on June 14, 2003, and contained on August 19, 2003. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
49,786 acres
Discovered
June 14, 2003
Contained
August 19, 2003
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 49,760 acres. Point of origin as reported, 64.266, -145.186.

The record

Reported final size
49,786 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
49,760 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
49,816 acres
Discovered
June 14, 2003, 2:21 p.m. local time
Contained
August 19, 2003, 4:45 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Alaska
Land ownership at origin
State
Reporting unit
Alaska Fire Service
Agency
DVF
Unit
AKDAS
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2003-AKDAS-000284
MTBS fire identifier
AK6430214514520030614
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
W-115497
Perimeter map method
Not Recorded
Note on the perimeter
None Recorded

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

FireAcresStartCause
Hadweenzic Fire192,489Jun 24, 2003Natural
Erickson Creek Fire117,930Jun 17, 2003Natural
Cornucopia Creek Fire52,917Jun 29, 2003Natural
Black Hill Fire42,745Jul 16, 2003Natural
Kerulu Creek Fire40,732Jun 18, 2003Natural
Big Mud Fire39,186Jun 22, 2003Natural
Sheenjek Fire25,230Jun 27, 2003Natural
Tsooktuihvun Lake Fire6,941Jul 22, 2003Human
Tok River Fire5,595May 27, 2003Human
Iliamna Fire5,460May 23, 2003Human
Pass Creek Fire3,646Jun 29, 2003Natural
Tag River Fire2,882Jun 18, 2003Natural

Every fire of 2003 Alaska 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.