Wheathead Fire
The Wheathead Fire burned 2,000 acres in Yellowstone County, Montana, in 2003. It was discovered on July 23, 2003, and contained on July 24, 2003. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 2,000 acres
- Discovered
- July 23, 2003
- Contained
- July 24, 2003
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 2,286 acres. Point of origin as reported, 45.581, -108.748.
The record
- Reported final size
- 2,000 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 2,286 acres
- Discovered
- July 23, 2003, 11:00 a.m. local time
- Contained
- July 24, 2003, 10:00 a.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Montana
- County
- Yellowstone County
- Land ownership at origin
- Private
- Reporting unit
- Miles City Field Office
- Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- MT4558010873220030723
- MTBS assessment
- Initial
- Fire occurrence record
- W-120576
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
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri Breaks Complex | 125,900 | Jul 19, 2003 | Natural |
| Germaine Fire | 66,497 | ||
| Robert Fire | 57,273 | Jul 23, 2003 | Human |
| Wedge Canyon Fire | 50,981 | Jul 18, 2003 | Natural |
| Lincoln Complex (Snowbank) Fire | 37,405 | Aug 13, 2003 | Natural |
| Hobble Fire | 36,180 | Aug 8, 2003 | Natural |
| Indian Fire | 33,955 | ||
| Fish Creek Complex (Thompson Creek) Fire | 33,948 | Aug 10, 2003 | Natural |
| Big Coulee Fire | 29,492 | ||
| Cooney Ridge Fire | 25,680 | Aug 8, 2003 | Natural |
| Littlehawk Fire | 25,490 | Aug 12, 2003 | Natural |
| Mineral-Primm (Mineral and Primm) Fire | 25,202 | Aug 9, 2003 | Natural |
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.