Wildfires of 2008

Blackhorse Fire

2008Bedford County, VirginiaWildfire

The Blackhorse Fire burned 1,550 acres in Bedford County, Virginia, in 2008. It was discovered on February 8, 2008, and contained on February 10, 2008. MTBS dates its ignition to February 9, 2008. The cause was recorded as equipment and vehicle use.

Size
1,550 acres
Discovered
February 8, 2008
Contained
February 10, 2008
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 1,537 acres. Point of origin as reported, 37.411, -79.768.

The record

Reported final size
1,550 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
1,537 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
2,539 acres
Discovered
February 8, 2008, 4:30 p.m. local time
Ignition (MTBS)
February 9, 2008
Contained
February 10, 2008, 12:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Equipment and vehicle use
State
Virginia
County
Bedford County
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
George Washington & Jefferson National Forests
Agency
National Park Service
Unit
NCBRP
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2008-NCBRP-000001
MTBS fire identifier
VA3742107975420080209
MTBS assessment
Initial (SS)
Fire occurrence record
FS-1474693
Perimeter map method
Autonomous GPS
Note on the perimeter
From WFMI

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 Virginia in 20089

FireAcresStartCause
South 1 Fire4,884Jun 9, 2008Human
St Marys Fire4,505Mar 25, 2008Human
Angel Fire3,990Feb 10, 2008Human
Old Stage Road Fire2,850Feb 10, 2008Human
Little Cuba Fire2,738Feb 10, 2008Human
Thraser Hill Fire1,300Feb 10, 2008Human
Pocahontas Road Fire1,250Feb 10, 2008Human
Unnamed Fire1,200Apr 18, 2008Human
Totiers Ferry Fire1,036Feb 10, 2008Human

Every fire of 2008 Virginia 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.