Whitewater-Baldy Fire
The Whitewater-Baldy Fire burned 297,845 acres in Catron County, New Mexico, in 2012. It was discovered on May 16, 2012, and contained on July 31, 2012. The cause was recorded as natural.
- Size
- 297,845 acres
- Discovered
- May 16, 2012
- Contained
- July 31, 2012
- Cause
- Natural
Map
The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 307,528 acres. Point of origin as reported, 33.345, -108.710.
The record
- Reported final size
- 297,845 acres
- Burned area mapped by MTBS
- 307,528 acres
- Area inside the final perimeter
- 297,801 acres
- Discovered
- May 16, 2012, 10:25 a.m. local time
- Contained
- July 31, 2012, 4:00 p.m. local time
- Cause
- Natural
- State
- New Mexico
- County
- Catron County
- Land ownership at origin
- Forest Service
- Reporting unit
- Gila National Forest
- Agency
- Forest Service
- Unit
- NMGNF
- Part of
- Whitewater-Baldy Complex
- Incident type
- Wildfire
- Unique fire identifier
- 2012-NMGNF-000200
- MTBS fire identifier
- NM3326710859220120509
- MTBS assessment
- Extended
- Fire occurrence record
- ICS209_2009_NM-GNF-000143
- Perimeter map method
- Infrared Interpretation
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 New Mexico in 20127
| Fire | Acres | Start | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Little Bear Fire | 40,000 | Jun 4, 2012 | Natural |
| Horse Canyon Fire | 7,287 | Jun 29, 2012 | Natural |
| Full Moon Fire | 2,500 | Jun 2, 2012 | Natural |
| Top Rock Fire | 1,701 | Oct 14, 2012 | Human |
| Copperton Fire | 1,584 | Apr 23, 2012 | |
| Whippy Fire | 1,369 | Jan 22, 2012 | Human |
| Frog Pond Fire | 1,122 | Jun 14, 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.