Chain Buttes Fire
The Chain Buttes Fire burned 3,290 acres in Petroleum County, Montana, in 2012. It was discovered on July 31, 2012, and contained on August 16, 2012. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 3,290 acres
- Discovered
- July 31, 2012
- Contained
- August 16, 2012
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 3,155 acres. Point of origin as reported, 47.513, -108.058.
The record
- Reported final size
- 3,290 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 3,155 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 3,212 acres
- Discovered
- July 31, 2012, 9:30 a.m. local time
- Contained
- August 16, 2012, 9:45 a.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- Montana
- County
- Petroleum County
- Land ownership at origin
- Bureau of Land Management
- Reporting unit
- North Central Montana District
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Unit
- MTNRC
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- MT4751210806020120731
- MTBS assessment
- Initial (SS)
- Fire occurrence record
- W-647745
- Perimeter records
- 2 on file for this fire; the largest is shown
- Note on the perimeter
- Corrected GPS coordinates or equivalent precision
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 201212
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ash Creek Fire | 249,562 | Jun 25, 2012 | Natural |
| Chalky Fire | 152,261 | Aug 2, 2012 | Natural |
| Sarpy Hills Complex | 82,127 | Aug 1, 2012 | Natural |
| Taylor Creek Fire | 62,111 | Jul 3, 2012 | Natural |
| Delphia Fire | 40,085 | Aug 24, 2012 | Natural |
| Welder Fire | 33,318 | Sep 14, 2012 | Human |
| Dahl Fire | 22,045 | Jun 26, 2012 | Natural |
| Dutch Fire | 19,247 | Sep 10, 2012 | Natural |
| Elbow Pass Complex | 17,319 | Jul 12, 2012 | Natural |
| Bear Trap 2 Fire | 15,341 | Jun 25, 2012 | Human |
| Wolf Creek Fire | 12,160 | Jul 24, 2012 | Natural |
| Wye Fire | 12,000 | Jan 4, 2012 | Human |
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.