Wildfires of 2010

Turquoise Lake Fire

2010AlaskaWildfire

The Turquoise Lake Fire burned 91,885 acres in Alaska, in 2010. It was discovered on May 17, 2010, and contained on September 7, 2010. The cause was recorded as recreation and ceremony.

Size
91,885 acres
Discovered
May 17, 2010
Contained
September 7, 2010
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 86,859 acres. Point of origin as reported, 62.395, -153.503.

The record

Reported final size
91,885 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
86,859 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
88,095 acres
Discovered
May 17, 2010, 6:15 p.m. local time
Contained
September 7, 2010, 10:30 a.m. local time
Cause
Human, Recreation and ceremony
State
Alaska
Land ownership at origin
State
Reporting unit
Alaska Regional Office
Agency
DVF
Unit
AKSWS
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2010-AKSWS-000137
MTBS fire identifier
AK6259215372820100517
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
W-613685
Perimeter map method
Image Interpretation
Note on the perimeter
Fire perimeter modified using Landsat Image Service. Image ID: LE07_L2SP_072016_20100927_20200910_02_T1, LT05_L2SP_071016_20100912_20200823_02_T1 and LE07_L2SP_072016_20100709_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 201012

FireAcresStartCause
Toklat 2 Fire171,727May 16, 2010Natural
Pat Creek Fire72,692Jun 25, 2010Natural
Chitanatala Fire36,633May 26, 2010Natural
Canvasback Lake Fire35,456Jul 12, 2010Natural
Peavey Creek Fire30,239Jul 1, 2010Natural
Toklat 2 Fire27,817
Derby Creek Fire23,577Jun 23, 2010Natural
Kaluktavik River Fire23,399Jul 2, 2010Natural
Delta Complex (Gilles Creek) Fire19,372May 26, 2010Natural
Mystery Fire18,952May 27, 2010Natural
Sidik Lake Fire18,189Jun 10, 2010Natural
Eagle Trail Fire17,934May 26, 2010Natural

Every fire of 2010 Alaska fire history

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.