Rich Hole Fire
The Rich Hole Fire burned 15,454 acres in Rockbridge County, Virginia, in 2012. It was discovered on April 9, 2012, and contained on April 26, 2012. MTBS dates its ignition to April 7, 2012. The cause was recorded as arson/incendiarism.
- Size
- 15,454 acres
- Discovered
- April 9, 2012
- Contained
- April 26, 2012
- Cause
- Human
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 15,919 acres. Point of origin as reported, 37.870, -79.625.
The record
- Reported final size
- 15,454 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 15,919 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 15,667 acres
- Discovered
- April 9, 2012, 6:19 p.m. local time
- Ignition (MTBS)
- April 7, 2012
- Contained
- April 26, 2012, 9:15 a.m. local time
- Cause
- Human, Arson/incendiarism
- State
- Virginia
- County
- Rockbridge County
- Land ownership at origin
- Forest Service
- Reporting unit
- George Washington & Jefferson National Forests
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Unit
- VAVAF
- Part of
- Easter Complex
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- MTBS fire identifier
- VA3787807965420120407
- MTBS assessment
- Initial
- Fire occurrence record
- FS-1502984
- Perimeter map method
- GPS - Uncorrected Data
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 Virginia in 20126
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alleghany Tunnels Fires Fire | 11,381 | Apr 7, 2012 | Human |
| Barbours Creek Fire | 7,351 | Apr 7, 2012 | Human |
| Shipwreck Fire | 3,717 | Apr 8, 2012 | Human |
| Neighbor Mtn Fire | 2,138 | Jun 26, 2012 | Natural |
| Point 2 Fire | 1,200 | Jun 25, 2012 | Natural |
| Porter Mills Fire | 879 | Apr 11, 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.