Big Salmon Lake Fire
The Big Salmon Lake Fire burned 5,183 acres in Montana, in 2011. It was discovered on August 16, 2011, and contained on October 7, 2011. The cause was recorded as recreation and ceremony.
- Size
- 5,183 acres
- Discovered
- August 16, 2011
- Contained
- October 7, 2011
- Cause
- Human
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 5,146 acres. Point of origin as reported, 47.591, -113.412.
The record
- Reported final size
- 5,183 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 5,146 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 5,183 acres
- Discovered
- August 16, 2011, 3:55 p.m. local time
- Contained
- October 7, 2011, 12:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Human, Recreation and ceremony
- State
- Montana
- Land ownership at origin
- Forest Service
- Reporting unit
- Flathead National Forest
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- MT4751911341120110816
- MTBS assessment
- Initial
- Fire occurrence record
- FS-1500225
- Perimeter map method
- GPS - Uncorrected Data
- Note on the perimeter
- SBRD, PARTIAL GPS AND PARTIAL HAND DRAWN
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 Montana in 201112
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond Complex | 34,550 | Aug 22, 2011 | Natural |
| Black Springs Complex | 18,970 | Aug 22, 2011 | Natural |
| Forty One Complex | 13,261 | Aug 28, 2011 | Natural |
| Maverick Fire | 10,715 | Aug 22, 2011 | Natural |
| Hammer Creek Fire | 6,314 | Aug 8, 2011 | Natural |
| Mill Fire | 5,482 | Aug 22, 2011 | Natural |
| Boss Ribs Fire | 4,537 | Aug 22, 2011 | Natural |
| Stewart Fire | 4,213 | Aug 24, 2011 | Natural |
| Lutz Fire | 3,982 | Aug 6, 2011 | Natural |
| West Riverside Fire | 3,800 | Aug 22, 2011 | Human |
| Melrose Fire | 2,569 | Oct 1, 2011 | Natural |
| Canyon Creek Fire | 2,560 | Aug 29, 2011 | Natural |
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.