Wildfires of 2009

Rim Fire

2009Gila County, ArizonaWildfire

The Rim Fire burned 2,500 acres in Gila County, Arizona, in 2009. It was discovered on July 20, 2009, and contained on August 25, 2009. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
2,500 acres
Discovered
July 20, 2009
Contained
August 25, 2009
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 2,596 acres. Point of origin as reported, 34.430, -111.235.

The record

Reported final size
2,500 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
2,596 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
2,483 acres
Discovered
July 20, 2009, 5:45 p.m. local time
Contained
August 25, 2009, 12:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Arizona
County
Gila County
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Tonto National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Unit
AZTNF
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2009-AZTNF-000097
MTBS fire identifier
AZ3443311124220090720
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
FS-1477982
Perimeter map method
Other Agency Digital

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 Arizona in 200912

FireAcresStartCause
Elk Horn Fire23,668Jun 11, 2009Human
Bear Canyon Fire20,029Jul 14, 2009Natural
Hog Fire16,802Mar 1, 2009Human
Wildhorse Complex13,790Jul 21, 2009Natural
San Juan Fire9,200Jul 14, 2009Human
Unnamed Fire8,864Apr 14, 2009
Cross Fire7,718Jul 1, 2009Natural
Chevlon Complex (Weimer) Fire6,399Jul 27, 2009Natural
Reno Fire6,322Sep 7, 2009Natural
Melendrez Pass Fire5,791May 29, 2009Natural
Guthrie Fire4,852Jul 11, 2009Natural
Aspen Fire4,276Jul 29, 2009Natural

Every fire of 2009 Arizona 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.