Wildfires of 2008

Westy Fire

2008Valley County, IdahoWildfire

The Westy Fire burned 4,320 acres in Valley County, Idaho, in 2008. It was discovered on August 11, 2008, and contained on October 17, 2008. MTBS dates its ignition to August 7, 2008. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
4,320 acres
Discovered
August 11, 2008
Contained
October 17, 2008
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 2,864 acres. Point of origin as reported, 45.059, -114.986.

The record

Reported final size
4,320 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
2,864 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
4,321 acres
Discovered
August 11, 2008, 2:00 p.m. local time
Ignition (MTBS)
August 7, 2008
Contained
October 17, 2008, 9:00 a.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Idaho
County
Valley County
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Payette National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Unit
IDPAF
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
ID4505811500520080807
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
FS-1474093

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 200812

FireAcresStartCause
South Barker Wfu Fire37,725Aug 7, 2008Natural
North Minidoka Fire31,616Aug 18, 2008Human
Nature Fire14,869Aug 27, 2008Human
Neibaur Fire7,831Jul 27, 2008Human
Shoshone Basin Fire6,773Sep 29, 2008Human
Willow Wfu Fire5,664Jul 14, 2008Natural
Cabin Creek Fire5,500Jul 30, 2008Human
Border Complex (Cayuse) Fire5,311Jul 18, 2008Natural
Central Grade Fire4,862Jul 10, 2008Human
Sand Shed Fire3,847Aug 1, 2008Human
Snow Hole Fire2,967Aug 8, 2008Natural
Rattlesnake Fire2,520Aug 5, 2008Human

Every fire of 2008 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.