Biscuit Fire

Biscuit Fire
NASA satellite image of the Biscuit Fire, on August 12, 2002
Date(s)
  • July 12, 2002 (2002-07-12) –
  • December 31, 2002 (2002-12-31)
  • (173 days)
LocationSiskiyou National Forest, Oregon and California, USA
Coordinates42°03′00″N 123°53′00″W / 42.05°N 123.883333°W / 42.05; -123.883333
Statistics[2][3]
Burned area500,000 acres (2,000 km2)
  • 28,772 acres (116.44 km2) in California[1]
  • 471,228 acres (1,906.99 km2) in Oregon[1]
Land useMixed, residential and wildlands
Impacts
DeathsNone
Non-fatal injuriesUnknown
DamageMillions of dollars
Ignition
CauseLightning
Map
Biscuit Fire is located in California
Biscuit Fire

The Biscuit Fire was a massive wildfire in 2002 that burned nearly 500,000 acres (780 sq mi; 2,000 km2) in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest, in southern Oregon and northern California, in the Western United States. The fire was named after Biscuit Creek in southern Oregon.[3] The Biscuit Fire was the second-largest wildfire in the modern post-1900 history of Oregon.[3][4] Oregon's largest fires are actually believed to have taken place in the 1800s. The Silverton Fire[5] of 1865 is listed as Oregon's largest at over 900,000 acres.[citation needed] The Biscuit Fire area is subject to warm, dry winds known as the Brookings effect (also known as Chetco effect), driven by high pressure over the Great Basin. The fire re-burned portions of the 1987 Silver Fire, and much of its area was re-burned in the 2017 Chetco Bar Fire.

  1. ^ a b "2002 Large Fires" (PDF). CAL FIRE. February 11, 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Biscuit Fire was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference 15 years after was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Sutton, Joe; Guy, Michael; Silverman, Hollie (July 20, 2021). "The Bootleg Fire in Oregon is so large, it's creating its own weather". CNN. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  5. ^ Urness, Zach. "Oregon's 2020 wildfire season brought a new level of destruction. It could be just the beginning". Statesman Journal. Retrieved 2021-07-13.