Wildfires of 2008

Whitmire Fire

2008Hidalgo County, New MexicoWildfire

The Whitmire Fire burned 4,046 acres in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, in 2008. It was discovered on May 21, 2008, and contained on May 23, 2008. The cause was recorded as debris and open burning.

Size
4,046 acres
Discovered
May 21, 2008
Contained
May 23, 2008
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 4,163 acres. Point of origin as reported, 31.526, -108.977.

The record

Reported final size
4,046 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
4,163 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
4,063 acres
Discovered
May 21, 2008, 1:00 p.m. local time
Contained
May 23, 2008, 9:00 a.m. local time
Cause
Human, Debris and open burning
State
New Mexico
County
Hidalgo County
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Coronado National Forest
Agency
Bureau of Land Management
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2008-NMLCD-581124
MTBS fire identifier
NM3155610897620080521
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
FS-1459717
Perimeter map method
GPS-Driven
Perimeter records
2 on file for this fire; the largest is shown
Note on the perimeter
STATE FIRE NUMBER 08-30830902N Debris Burning

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
Stiles Complex67,008Mar 14, 2008Human
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

Every fire of 2008 New Mexico 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.