Template:Did you know nominations/Carlton Complex Fire

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:29, 19 February 2018 (UTC)

Carlton Complex Fire

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... that the 2014 Carlton Complex Fire was the largest wildfire in Washington state history up to that time? Source: "The 2014 Carlton Complex fire, the largest single wildfire in Washington history..."

Improved to Good Article status by Surachit (talk). Self-nominated at 19:12, 3 February 2018 (UTC).

Hi Surachit, review follows: Article promoted to GA 2 February and has not previously featured as a DYK or ITN; article exceeds minimum length; article is well written; article is cited in line throughout; hook is interesting; I placed an inline cite immediately after the hook to comply with the DYK rules. ~~A QPQ review needs to be carried out.~~ Additionally, could you explain why History Link is a reliable source? I am sure it must be if it passed GA review but I couldn't see any mention of it in the review and it is not a site I have come across before (maybe the author Jim Kershner is an expert in this field?). Other than that, good to go - Dumelow (talk) 20:36, 4 February 2018 (UTC)

@Dumelow: Not the nominator, but someone local who can answer the query. HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia that was founded by several historians (who regularly published articles in reliable sources like The Seattle Times) and many of its articles have been written by experts in Washington history, as well as staff working with librarians and historians.
The hook here is, however, a bit misleading. The Carlton Complex was the largest fire in state history at the time, but was surpassed a year later by the Okanogan Complex Fire. (per Reuters) Sounder Bruce 01:06, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

Hi SounderBruce, thanks for the info. I am happy with the source then. I have amended the hook to include the date and "up until that time" which hopefully solves the issue, let me know what you think. ~~Just waiting for a QPQ Surachit~~ - Dumelow (talk) 11:38, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

Doh, I am an idiot! I missed that Surachit has no previous DYK nominations and is exempt from the requirement for QPQ. SounderBruce are you happy with the reworded hook? If so I will mark it as passed - Dumelow (talk) 22:39, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

I'm fine with what wording people think is best, but the Carlton Complex is still the largest *single* wildfire in the state. The Okanogan Complex is only larger if you add up the acreage of multiple separate fires that were burning at the time. The Historylink essay addresses how the initial reporting (such as the Reuters article) was inaccurate:

"In August 2015 a complex of fires dubbed the Okanogan Complex, which ravaged an area of Okanogan County a little east of where the Carlton Complex burned a year earlier, was reported to have surpassed the size of the 2014 blaze. But then the largest component fire included as part of the Okanogan Complex (the Tunk Block fire) was removed from that designation and counted as a separate fire, because it never merged with the other fires that made up the Okanogan Complex, so the Carlton Complex retained its status as the largest single wildfire in history to burn entirely within the state of Washington."[1]

there's also this source explaining the same thing. Per InciWeb, the Okanogan Complex itself (not counting the Tunk Block fire) was 133,000 acres, much less than the 256,000 acre Carlton Complex. Surachit (talk) 03:39, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

Yes, I think it can either read "largest wildfire at that time" or "largest single wildfire", both are supported by the sources. I will pass this and leave it up to the promoter to select which to use, thanks - Dumelow (talk) 12:58, 10 February 2018 (UTC)