Sunflower Fire
The Sunflower Fire burned 17,618 acres in Maricopa County, Arizona, in 2012. It was discovered on May 12, 2012, and contained on July 2, 2012. The cause was recorded as human.
- Size
- 17,618 acres
- Discovered
- May 12, 2012
- Contained
- July 2, 2012
- Cause
- Human
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 17,673 acres. Point of origin as reported, 33.930, -111.476.
The record
- Reported final size
- 17,618 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 17,673 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 16,068 acres
- Discovered
- May 12, 2012, 10:25 a.m. local time
- Contained
- July 2, 2012, 4:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Human, Undetermined
- State
- Arizona
- County
- Maricopa County
- Land ownership at origin
- Forest Service
- Reporting unit
- Tonto National Forest
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Unit
- AZTNF
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- Unique fire identifier
- 2012-AZTNF-000051
- MTBS fire identifier
- AZ3393111147420120512
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- FS-1507905
- Perimeter map method
- Other Agency Digital
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 Arizona in 201212
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hobble Complex | 34,200 | Jul 12, 2012 | Natural |
| Black Canyon Fire | 18,392 | Jun 27, 2012 | Human |
| Grapevine Fire | 18,300 | Jun 28, 2012 | Natural |
| Gladiator Fire | 16,240 | May 13, 2012 | Human |
| Campini Fire | 12,015 | May 21, 2012 | Human |
| Poco Fire | 11,936 | Jun 14, 2012 | Human |
| Canyon Fire | 8,716 | Jun 29, 2012 | Natural |
| Fox Fire | 7,474 | Jun 16, 2012 | Natural |
| Shorten Fire | 7,092 | Sep 25, 2012 | Natural |
| School Canyon Fire | 7,049 | May 8, 2012 | Human |
| Squaw Creek Fire | 5,305 | Jul 11, 2012 | Natural |
| Mistake Peak Fire | 5,220 | Aug 8, 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.