Wildfires of 2012

Welder Fire

2012MontanaWildfire

The Welder Fire burned 33,318 acres in Montana, in 2012. It was discovered on September 14, 2012, and contained on September 19, 2012. The cause was recorded as equipment and vehicle use.

Size
33,318 acres
Discovered
September 14, 2012
Contained
September 19, 2012
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 32,984 acres. Point of origin as reported, 48.323, -108.650.

The record

Reported final size
33,318 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
32,984 acres
Discovered
September 14, 2012, 12:55 p.m. local time
Contained
September 19, 2012, 5:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Human, Equipment and vehicle use
State
Montana
Land ownership at origin
Tribal
Reporting unit
Fort Belknap Agency
Agency
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
MT4832310864920120914
MTBS assessment
Initial (SS)
Fire occurrence record
W-646153

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
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
Ester Lake Fire10,924Aug 24, 2012Human

Every fire of 2012 Montana fire history

Nearby

Sources

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.