Wildfires of 2012

Wellnitz Fire

2012NebraskaWildfire

The Wellnitz Fire burned 28,800 acres in Nebraska, in 2012. It was discovered on August 31, 2012, and contained on September 5, 2012. MTBS dates its ignition to August 29, 2012. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
28,800 acres
Discovered
August 31, 2012
Contained
September 5, 2012
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 77,396 acres. Point of origin as reported, 43.000, -102.690.

The record

Reported final size
28,800 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
77,396 acres
Discovered
August 31, 2012, 4:00 p.m. local time
Ignition (MTBS)
August 29, 2012
Contained
September 5, 2012, 8:00 a.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Nebraska
Land ownership at origin
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Reporting unit
Pine Ridge Agency
Agency
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Incident type
Wildfire
MTBS fire identifier
NE4282410260920120829
MTBS assessment
Initial
Fire occurrence record
W-644862

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 Nebraska in 201212

FireAcresStartCause
Region 24 Complex66,745Jul 20, 2012Natural
Keith County Complex60,000Aug 2, 2012Natural
West Ash Fire56,471Aug 28, 2012Natural
Douthit Fire29,730Aug 28, 2012Natural
Turner Tatanka Fire19,000Aug 2, 2012Natural
Unnamed Fire18,020Sep 8, 2012
Unnamed Fire7,980Jul 15, 2012
Unnamed Fire6,380Jul 23, 2012Natural
Unnamed Fire6,011Jul 15, 2012
Unnamed Fire5,303Sep 8, 2012
Unnamed Fire4,793Sep 8, 2012
Unnamed Fire4,501Jul 15, 2012

Every fire of 2012 Nebraska 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.