Wildfires of 2012

West Ash Fire

2012Dawes County, NebraskaWildfire

The West Ash Fire burned 56,471 acres in Dawes County, Nebraska, in 2012. It was discovered on August 28, 2012, and contained on October 1, 2012. MTBS dates its ignition to August 29, 2012. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
56,471 acres
Discovered
August 28, 2012
Contained
October 1, 2012
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 55,218 acres. Point of origin as reported, 42.624, -103.253.

The record

Reported final size
56,471 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
55,218 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
56,471 acres
Discovered
August 28, 2012, 2:00 p.m. local time
Ignition (MTBS)
August 29, 2012
Contained
October 1, 2012, 4:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Nebraska
County
Dawes County
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
Nebraska National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Unit
NENBF
Part of
Region 23 Complex
Other fire reports inside the burned area
Ash Creek
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2012-NENES-121132
MTBS fire identifier
NE4262410325320120829
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
FS-1510844
Perimeter map method
GPS - Uncorrected Data
Note on the perimeter
PNG67J - Rocky Mountian Type 2 IMT (Team C); Region 23 Complex

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
Douthit Fire29,730Aug 28, 2012Natural
Wellnitz Fire28,800Aug 31, 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

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.