Wildfires of 2008

Freeway Complex

2008Orange County, CaliforniaWildfire

The Freeway Complex burned 30,305 acres in Orange County, California, in 2008. It was discovered on November 15, 2008, and contained on November 18, 2008. The cause was recorded as human.

Size
30,305 acres
Discovered
November 15, 2008
Contained
November 18, 2008
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 29,328 acres. Point of origin as reported, 33.873, -117.739.

The record

Reported final size
30,305 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
29,328 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
30,305 acres
Discovered
November 15, 2008, 9:10 a.m. local time
Contained
November 18, 2008, 6:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Undetermined
State
California
County
Orange County
Reporting unit
Cleveland National Forest
Agency
CAL FIRE
Unit
CARRU
Part of
Freeway Complex
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
CA3391911775320081115
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
FS-1475115
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 200812

FireAcresStartCause
Basin Complex162,818Jun 21, 2008Natural
Basin Complex (Indians) Fire81,378Jun 8, 2008Human
Siskiyou-Blue 2 Complex (Blue 2) Fire65,834Jun 20, 2008Natural
Btu Lightning Complex (Long Branch-Jack) Fire47,647Aug 13, 2008Natural
Panther Fire44,452Jul 23, 2008Natural
Bear Wallow Complex (Ukonom) Fire38,394Jun 21, 2008Natural
Piute Fire37,026Jun 28, 2008Human
Telegraph Fire34,091Jul 25, 2008Human
Yolla Bolly Complex (Iron) Fire32,903Jun 21, 2008Natural
Yellow Fire32,250Jun 22, 2008Natural
Iron and Alps Complexes (Eagle) Fire32,059Jun 21, 2008Natural
Yellow Fire31,933

Every fire of 2008 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.