Wildfires of 2005

Topanga Fire

2005CaliforniaWildfire

The Topanga Fire burned 24,970 acres in California, in 2005. It was discovered on September 28, 2005, and contained on October 10, 2005. The cause was recorded as human.

Size
24,970 acres
Discovered
September 28, 2005
Contained
October 10, 2005
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 24,122 acres. Point of origin as reported, 34.283, -118.611.

The record

Reported final size
24,970 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
24,122 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
23,396 acres
Discovered
September 28, 2005, 1:50 p.m. local time
Contained
October 10, 2005, 6:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Undetermined
State
California
Land ownership at origin
National Park Service
Reporting unit
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
Agency
Forest Service
Unit
CALAC
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
CA3421811869620050928
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
W-513082
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 200512

FireAcresStartCause
Hackberry Complex63,436Jun 22, 2005Natural
Unnamed Fire39,062Aug 25, 2005
China Lake Fire10,350Jul 18, 2005Human
Unnamed Fire9,039Aug 19, 2005
Comb Complex8,675Jul 22, 2005Natural
Hackberry Fire7,158
Tesla Fire6,744Jul 19, 2005Human
Woodhouse Fire6,644Oct 5, 2005Human
Five Fire5,514Jun 4, 2005Human
Blaisdell Fire5,493Aug 26, 2005Human
Border 50 Fire4,100Oct 5, 2005Human
School Fire4,000Nov 18, 2005

Every fire of 2005 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.