Wildfires of 2003

Wedge Canyon Fire

2003MontanaWildfire

The Wedge Canyon Fire burned 50,981 acres in Montana, in 2003. It was discovered on July 18, 2003, and contained on October 15, 2003. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
50,981 acres
Discovered
July 18, 2003
Contained
October 15, 2003
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 51,995 acres. Point of origin as reported, 48.884, -114.551.

The record

Reported final size
50,981 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
51,995 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
53,359 acres
Discovered
July 18, 2003, 2:00 p.m. local time
Contained
October 15, 2003, 4:30 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Montana
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Flathead National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Unit
MTGNP
Part of
Wedge Canyon Complex
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2003-MTGNP-000014
MTBS fire identifier
MT4890111437420030718
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
FS-391183
Perimeter records
2 on file for this fire; the largest is shown
Note on the perimeter
From WFMI

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 Montana in 200312

FireAcresStartCause
Missouri Breaks Complex125,900Jul 19, 2003Natural
Germaine Fire66,497
Robert Fire57,273Jul 23, 2003Human
Lincoln Complex (Snowbank) Fire37,405Aug 13, 2003Natural
Hobble Fire36,180Aug 8, 2003Natural
Indian Fire33,955
Fish Creek Complex (Thompson Creek) Fire33,948Aug 10, 2003Natural
Big Coulee Fire29,492
Cooney Ridge Fire25,680Aug 8, 2003Natural
Littlehawk Fire25,490Aug 12, 2003Natural
Mineral-Primm (Mineral and Primm) Fire25,202Aug 9, 2003Natural
Rampage Complex (Double Mountain 2) Fire21,000Aug 19, 2003Natural

Every fire of 2003 Montana 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.