How Are Wildfires Named? Here's How

Have you ever wondered how the area fires receive their names? It is not alphabetical like hurricanes.

According to Ron Leal, director of Region 21 Emergency Management, the naming of the fire is up to the incident commander. Leal said all larger wild land fires are named, usually named using the closest landmark.

Although sometime they are named after a county road number, departments don’t like that because there could be another fire on that road. In Morrill County, the fire near Angora was called 118 because it started near county road 118.

The Hackberry Fire in Banner County and Mor...