Wildfires of 2003

Unnamed Fire

2003Merced County, CaliforniaWildfire

The Unnamed Fire burned 1,558 acres in Merced County, California, in 2003. It was discovered on June 15, 2003, and contained on June 16, 2003. MTBS dates its ignition to June 16, 2003. The cause was recorded as equipment and vehicle use.

Size
1,558 acres
Discovered
June 15, 2003
Contained
June 16, 2003
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,701 acres. Point of origin as reported, 37.079, -121.208.

The record

Reported final size
1,558 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
1,701 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
1,507 acres
Discovered
June 15, 2003, 2:51 p.m. local time
Ignition (MTBS)
June 16, 2003
Contained
June 16, 2003, 6:00 a.m. local time
Cause
Human, Equipment and vehicle use
State
California
County
Merced County
Land ownership at origin
State
Reporting unit
Merced-Mariposa Unit
Agency
CAL FIRE
Unit
CAMMU
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
CA3709612116720030616
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
SFO-2003CACDFMMU009901
Perimeter map method
Hand Drawn
Perimeter records
2 on file for this fire; the largest is shown

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 California in 200312

FireAcresStartCause
Cedar Fire280,059Oct 25, 2003Human
Simi Fire108,204Oct 25, 2003
Old Fire91,281Oct 25, 2003Human
Piru Fire63,720Oct 23, 2003Human
Grand Prix Fire59,788Oct 21, 2003Human
Paradise Fire56,427Oct 26, 2003Human
Mine/Otay Fire47,921Oct 26, 2003Human
Annie Fire30,170Aug 25, 2003Natural
Coyote Fire19,576Jul 16, 2003Natural
Honeydew Fire13,846Sep 3, 2003Natural
Local Fire12,000Feb 23, 2003Human
Canoe Fire11,036Sep 3, 2003Natural

Every fire of 2003 California 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.