Wildfires of 2005

Big Sands Wfu Fire

2005Idaho County, IdahoWildland fire use

The Big Sands Wfu Fire burned 2,398 acres in Idaho County, Idaho, in 2005. It was discovered on August 16, 2005, and contained on October 7, 2005. MTBS dates its ignition to August 8, 2005. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
2,398 acres
Discovered
August 16, 2005
Contained
October 7, 2005
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,291 acres. Point of origin as reported, 46.343, -114.588.

The record

Reported final size
2,398 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
1,291 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
2,398 acres
Discovered
August 16, 2005, 2:15 p.m. local time
Ignition (MTBS)
August 8, 2005
Contained
October 7, 2005, 3:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Idaho
County
Idaho County
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Nez Perce - Clearwater National Forests
Agency
Forest Service
Unit
IDNCF
Part of
Powell Wfu Complex
Incident type
Wildland fire use
Unique fire identifier
2005-IDNCF-000039
MTBS fire identifier
ID4633811457920050808
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
FS-1425995

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 Idaho in 200512

FireAcresStartCause
Clover Fire192,846Jul 15, 2005Natural
Rupert Fire47,592Jul 22, 2005Natural
Valley Road Fire40,483Sep 3, 2005Human
Granite Complex36,800Aug 6, 2005Natural
Snake One Fire25,280Jul 28, 2005Natural
Laidlaw Butte Fire24,810Aug 10, 2005Human
Nine Shot Wfu Fire20,400Aug 26, 2005Natural
Round Butte Fire16,892Sep 16, 2005Human
Frank Church Wfu (West Fork and Joe) Fire13,866Aug 10, 2005Natural
Fort Hall Complex10,630Sep 4, 2005Human
Running Lake Fire10,307
Brown Dune Fire9,133Jun 14, 2005Natural

Every fire of 2005 Idaho 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.