Wildfires of 2012

Prisoner Lake Fire

2012Powell County, MontanaWildfire

The Prisoner Lake Fire burned 4,186 acres in Powell County, Montana, in 2012. It was discovered on July 30, 2012, and contained on October 25, 2012. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
4,186 acres
Discovered
July 30, 2012
Contained
October 25, 2012
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 3,641 acres. Point of origin as reported, 47.541, -113.159.

The record

Reported final size
4,186 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
3,641 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
4,080 acres
Discovered
July 30, 2012, 3:07 p.m. local time
Contained
October 25, 2012, 12:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Montana
County
Powell County
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Flathead National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
MT4753011314920120730
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
FS-1508624
Perimeter map method
GPS - Uncorrected Data
Note on the perimeter
DATA_SOURCE PREDOMIINATLY AERIAL GPS

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
Elbow Pass Complex17,319Jul 12, 2012Natural
Bear Trap 2 Fire15,341Jun 25, 2012Human
Wolf Creek Fire12,160Jul 24, 2012Natural
Wye Fire12,000Jan 4, 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.