Big River Fire
The Big River Fire burned 33,262 acres in Alaska, in 2009. It was discovered on July 5, 2009, and contained on September 6, 2009. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 33,262 acres
- Discovered
- July 5, 2009
- Contained
- September 6, 2009
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 30,312 acres. Point of origin as reported, 62.279, -154.743.
The record
- Reported final size
- 33,262 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 30,312 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 32,224 acres
- Discovered
- July 5, 2009, 5:35 p.m. local time
- Contained
- September 6, 2009, 3:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Alaska
- Land ownership at origin
- Bureau of Land Management
- Reporting unit
- Alaska Regional Office
- Agency
- DVF
- Unit
- AKSWS
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- Unique fire identifier
- 2009-AKSWS-000361
- MTBS fire identifier
- AK6227615474820090705
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- W-595430
- Perimeter map method
- Image Interpretation
- Note on the perimeter
- Fire perimeter modified using Landsat Image Service. Image IDs: LT05_L2SP_072016_20101005_20200823_02_T1 and LE07_L2SP_073016_20090915_20200911_02_T1.
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 Alaska in 200912
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Railbelt Complex (Minto Flats South) Fire | 517,078 | Jun 21, 2009 | Natural |
| Little Black One Fire | 349,450 | Jun 20, 2009 | Natural |
| Big Creek Fire | 169,639 | Jul 18, 2009 | Natural |
| Titna River Fire | 164,542 | Jul 11, 2009 | Natural |
| Tonclonukna Creek Fire | 164,318 | May 23, 2009 | Natural |
| Zitziana Fire | 141,126 | Jun 17, 2009 | Natural |
| Nowitna Fire | 126,582 | Jun 13, 2009 | Natural |
| Wood River 1 Fire | 125,382 | Jul 12, 2009 | Natural |
| Railbelt Complex (Rex Creek) Fire | 101,150 | Aug 2, 2009 | Natural |
| Stevens Creek 1 Fire | 85,909 | Jun 18, 2009 | Natural |
| Sheenjek Fire | 62,658 | Jul 2, 2009 | Natural |
| Rock Slough Fire | 62,313 | Jun 30, 2009 | Natural |
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.