Wildfires of 2013

West Fork Complex

2013Mineral County, ColoradoWildfire

The West Fork Complex burned 58,570 acres in Mineral County, Colorado, in 2013. It was discovered on June 5, 2013, and contained on November 22, 2013. The cause was recorded as natural.

Size
58,570 acres
Discovered
June 5, 2013
Contained
November 22, 2013
Cause
Natural

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 18,774 acres. Point of origin as reported, 37.462, -106.944.

The record

Reported final size
58,570 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
18,774 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
56,576 acres
Discovered
June 5, 2013, 1:00 p.m. local time
Contained
November 22, 2013, 12:00 p.m. local time
Cause
Natural
State
Colorado
County
Mineral County
Land ownership at origin
Forest Service
Reporting unit
San Juan National Forest
Agency
Forest Service
Unit
COSJF
Part of
West Fork Complex
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2013-COSJF-000232
MTBS fire identifier
CO3746210694320130605
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
FS-1519316
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 Colorado in 201311

FireAcresStartCause
Papoose Fire49,628Jun 19, 2013Natural
West Fork Complex - East Zone Fire34,436Jun 5, 2013
Black Forest Fire16,580Jun 13, 2013Human
East Peak Fire13,572Jun 19, 2013Natural
Royal Gorge Fire3,218Jun 11, 2013Human
Citadel Fire1,986Jul 21, 2013Natural
Galena Fire1,200Mar 15, 2013Human
Oxcart Fire1,152Jun 8, 2013Natural
Wild Rose Fire1,065Jun 19, 2013Natural
Cog Fire1,010Aug 17, 2013Human
Unnamed Fire1,000Feb 9, 2013Human

Every fire of 2013 Colorado 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.