Wildfires of 2008

Stiles Complex

2008Lea County, New MexicoWildfire

The Stiles Complex burned 67,008 acres in Lea County, New Mexico, in 2008. It was discovered on March 14, 2008, and contained on March 16, 2008. The cause was recorded as human.

Size
67,008 acres
Discovered
March 14, 2008
Contained
March 16, 2008
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 27,839 acres. Point of origin as reported, 32.836, -103.438.

The record

Reported final size
67,008 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
27,839 acres
Discovered
March 14, 2008, 12:00 a.m. local time
Contained
March 16, 2008, 6:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Undetermined
State
New Mexico
County
Lea County
Land ownership at origin
State
Reporting unit
Capitan District
Agency
State or local agency
Part of
Stiles Complex
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
NM3284010333420080314
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
ICS209_2008_NM-N5S-0541

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 New Mexico in 200812

FireAcresStartCause
Rocky Fire49,092Jun 18, 2008Natural
Bonney Fire25,329Jun 18, 2008Natural
Four Lakes Fire23,000Apr 30, 2008
Unnamed Fire16,837Apr 5, 2008Human
Trigo Fire13,709Apr 15, 2008Human
Cholla Fire12,624Apr 7, 2008Human
Fire10,500Feb 25, 2008
Elliott Fire9,185Dec 14, 2008Human
SRR13 Fire7,116Jan 15, 2008
Eldridge Fire5,800Jun 26, 2008Natural
Jal Fire5,760Feb 25, 2008
Big Spring Fire5,478Jun 24, 2008Natural

Every fire of 2008 New Mexico fire history

Nearby

Sources

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.