Wildfires of 2004

Melton Fire

2004Riverside County, CaliforniaWildfire

The Melton Fire burned 3,667 acres in Riverside County, California, in 2004. It was discovered on July 17, 2004, and contained on July 21, 2004. The cause was recorded as equipment and vehicle use.

Size
3,667 acres
Discovered
July 17, 2004
Contained
July 21, 2004
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 3,953 acres. Point of origin as reported, 33.601, -116.918.

The record

Reported final size
3,667 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
3,953 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
3,693 acres
Discovered
July 17, 2004, 4:00 p.m. local time
Contained
July 21, 2004, 8:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Equipment and vehicle use
State
California
County
Riverside County
Land ownership at origin
Private
Reporting unit
California Desert District
Agency
Forest Service
Unit
CARRU
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
CA3360811688220040717
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
W-122809

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

FireAcresStartCause
Rumsey Fire39,138Oct 10, 2004Human
Pine Fire17,418Jul 12, 2004Human
Power Fire16,823Oct 6, 2004Human
Cerrito Fire16,460May 3, 2004Human
French Fire12,535Aug 14, 2004Human
Geysers Fire12,525Sep 3, 2004
Crown Complex (Crown) Fire11,966Jul 20, 2004Human
Bear Fire10,484Aug 11, 2004Human
Eagle Fire8,945May 2, 2004Human
Mataguay Fire8,500Jul 13, 2004Human
Freds Fire7,700Oct 13, 2004Human
Gaviota Fire7,440Jun 5, 2004Human

Every fire of 2004 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.