Wildfires of 2012

Elbow Pass Complex

2012Lewis and Clark County, MontanaWildfire

The Elbow Pass Complex burned 17,319 acres in Lewis and Clark County, Montana, in 2012. It was discovered on July 12, 2012, and contained on November 1, 2012. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
17,319 acres
Discovered
July 12, 2012
Contained
November 1, 2012
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 28,984 acres. Point of origin as reported, 47.406, -112.869.

The record

Reported final size
17,319 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
28,984 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
28,256 acres
Discovered
July 12, 2012, 12:36 p.m. local time
Contained
November 1, 2012, 1:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Montana
County
Lewis and Clark County
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Helena - Lewis and Clark National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Part of
Elbow Pass Complex
Other fire reports inside the burned area
Rapid Creek, Bar Creek
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
MT4740911286820120712
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
FS-1505437
Note on the perimeter
Elbow Pass, Bar Creek, Rapid Creek, Triple Divide Fires

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

FireAcresStartCause
Ash Creek Fire249,562Jun 25, 2012Natural
Chalky Fire152,261Aug 2, 2012Natural
Sarpy Hills Complex82,127Aug 1, 2012Natural
Taylor Creek Fire62,111Jul 3, 2012Natural
Delphia Fire40,085Aug 24, 2012Natural
Welder Fire33,318Sep 14, 2012Human
Dahl Fire22,045Jun 26, 2012Natural
Dutch Fire19,247Sep 10, 2012Natural
Bear Trap 2 Fire15,341Jun 25, 2012Human
Wolf Creek Fire12,160Jul 24, 2012Natural
Wye Fire12,000Jan 4, 2012Human
Ester Lake Fire10,924Aug 24, 2012Human

Every fire of 2012 Montana 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.