Cottonwood Fire
The Cottonwood Fire burned 1,845 acres in Riverside County, California, in 2004. It was discovered on May 12, 2004, and contained on May 15, 2004. The cause was recorded as recreation and ceremony.
- Size
- 1,845 acres
- Discovered
- May 12, 2004
- Contained
- May 15, 2004
- Cause
- Human
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,874 acres. Point of origin as reported, 33.983, -116.669.
The record
- Reported final size
- 1,845 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 1,874 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 1,819 acres
- Discovered
- May 12, 2004, 8:00 p.m. local time
- Contained
- May 15, 2004, 6:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Human, Recreation and ceremony
- State
- California
- County
- Riverside County
- Land ownership at origin
- Bureau of Land Management
- Reporting unit
- California Desert District
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Unit
- CARRU
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- CA3399011668120040512
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- W-121476
- 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 200412
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rumsey Fire | 39,138 | Oct 10, 2004 | Human |
| Pine Fire | 17,418 | Jul 12, 2004 | Human |
| Power Fire | 16,823 | Oct 6, 2004 | Human |
| Cerrito Fire | 16,460 | May 3, 2004 | Human |
| French Fire | 12,535 | Aug 14, 2004 | Human |
| Geysers Fire | 12,525 | Sep 3, 2004 | |
| Crown Complex (Crown) Fire | 11,966 | Jul 20, 2004 | Human |
| Bear Fire | 10,484 | Aug 11, 2004 | Human |
| Eagle Fire | 8,945 | May 2, 2004 | Human |
| Mataguay Fire | 8,500 | Jul 13, 2004 | Human |
| Freds Fire | 7,700 | Oct 13, 2004 | Human |
| Gaviota Fire | 7,440 | Jun 5, 2004 | Human |
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.