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Bulkley-Nechako E fire, July 2021 Bulkley-Nechako E

Out · last detection 22 Aug 2021, 10:17 UTC

The fire started on 6 July 2021 in Bulkley-Nechako E, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 48 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 19,852 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 60th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 448 with a page). Number 41 in Canada in 2021, of 304.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Bulkley-Nechako E · 2024Bulkley-Nechako E · 2023Bulkley-Nechako E · 2023Bulkley-Nechako E · 2018

Burnt area
19,852ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
48days
6 Jul 2021 – 22 Aug 2021
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
6 Jul
2021
Heat detections
2,696
in a single hotspot: 550 MW
Danger at start
18
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
2.6GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Jul22 Aug
22 Aug 2021

How it evolved, day by day

8 Jul 2021 · 1,646 MW · 68 9 Jul 2021 · 76 MW · 20 10 Jul 2021 · 3,784 MW · 56 11 Jul 2021 · 4,229 MW · 374 12 Jul 2021 · 6,471 MW · 210 13 Jul 2021 · 5,413 MW · 224 14 Jul 2021 · 26,076 MW · 943 15 Jul 2021 · 559 MW · 211 30 Jul 2021 · 7 MW · 2 31 Jul 2021 · 33 MW · 4 1 Aug 2021 · 1,308 MW · 135 2 Aug 2021 · 570 MW · 41 3 Aug 2021 · 60 MW · 36 4 Aug 2021 · 34 MW · 6 5 Aug 2021 · 7 MW · 7 11 Aug 2021 · 1,173 MW · 65 12 Aug 2021 · 187 MW · 54 13 Aug 2021 · 8,256 MW · 185 15 Aug 2021 · 298 MW · 23 16 Aug 2021 · 12 MW · 11 17 Aug 2021 · 82 MW · 14 21 Aug 2021 · 3 MW · 3 22 Aug 2021 · 9 MW · 4
8 Jul 12 Jul 14 Jul 30 Jul 3 Aug 12 Aug 17 Aug

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

30°high
73km/h · peak gust
26%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.7 mm on 25 Aug.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 13% of the area of London (199 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each census subdivision

  1. Bulkley-Nechako E where it started
    19,762 ha reached on 8 Jul
    1.1 %

Burnt area inside each census subdivision, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
6 Jul 26.6 °C 30 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
7 Jul 26.6 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
8 Jul 25.9 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
9 Jul 26.6 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm High 22
10 Jul 20.9 °C 44 % 53 km/h 2.6 mm Low 6
11 Jul 24.0 °C 33 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
12 Jul 26.9 °C 27 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
13 Jul 27.3 °C 26 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
14 Jul 23.0 °C 32 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
15 Jul 18.8 °C 44 % 31 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 20
16 Jul 17.4 °C 56 % 38 km/h 5.1 mm Very low 2
17 Jul 17.9 °C 49 % 28 km/h 12.6 mm Very low 0
18 Jul 17.8 °C 46 % 28 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 1
19 Jul 20.1 °C 46 % 29 km/h 11.7 mm Very low 0
20 Jul 17.8 °C 40 % 38 km/h 6.3 mm Very low 0
21 Jul 14.1 °C 52 % 45 km/h 5.1 mm Very low 0
22 Jul 14.1 °C 55 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
23 Jul 15.1 °C 63 % 42 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 1
24 Jul 17.4 °C 53 % 45 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 3
25 Jul 18.1 °C 52 % 38 km/h 4.0 mm Very low 0
26 Jul 16.3 °C 58 % 47 km/h 3.5 mm Very low 0
27 Jul 19.9 °C 34 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
28 Jul 20.3 °C 53 % 40 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 2
29 Jul 25.2 °C 33 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
30 Jul 27.7 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
31 Jul 28.4 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
1 Aug 29.5 °C 34 % 32 km/h 1.2 mm Low 10
2 Aug 25.2 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
3 Aug 23.4 °C 43 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
4 Aug 26.1 °C 36 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
5 Aug 20.5 °C 50 % 44 km/h 8.7 mm Very low 1
6 Aug 15.1 °C 52 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 3
7 Aug 15.5 °C 61 % 37 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 2
8 Aug 24.2 °C 39 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
9 Aug 18.4 °C 59 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
10 Aug 22.4 °C 56 % 64 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
11 Aug 24.4 °C 35 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
12 Aug 27.9 °C 31 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
13 Aug 29.1 °C 29 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
14 Aug 20.5 °C 58 % 55 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 14
15 Aug 19.1 °C 51 % 73 km/h 1.8 mm Low 8
16 Aug 17.1 °C 37 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
17 Aug 22.4 °C 30 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
18 Aug 15.9 °C 67 % 45 km/h 1.2 mm Low 6
19 Aug 19.9 °C 42 % 27 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 4
20 Aug 21.0 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm Low 10
21 Aug 19.4 °C 35 % 52 km/h 3.8 mm Very low 4
22 Aug 11.9 °C 65 % 40 km/h 5.8 mm Very low 0
23 Aug after 13.2 °C 54 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
24 Aug after 17.9 °C 42 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
25 Aug after 19.3 °C 37 % 39 km/h 1.7 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 29 Jun 2021
After · 29 Aug 2021

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 2,696Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Canada ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bulkley-Nechako E fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 July 2021 to 22 August 2021 (48 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 July 2021 to 21 August 2021.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 19,852 hectares (198.5 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Bulkley-Nechako E (19,762 ha, 1.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.5 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 73 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the official burnt perimeter of Canada’s CWFIS (NBAC, Natural Resources Canada) or, for the current season and until NBAC publishes it, the one rebuilt by GWIS (Copernicus); from NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots; and from the administrative boundaries of Canada. It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Emergency number: 911 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

Report an error
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We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 911.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: NBAC (Natural Resources Canada), official.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 6 July 2021 to 21 August 2021. 2,696 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

Where this data comes from

The perimeter is official: it comes from the National Burned Area Composite (NBAC) of the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS), Natural Resources Canada, which maps it on satellite imagery and publishes it under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Until NBAC publishes the current season, this year’s fires carry the perimeter rebuilt from heat detections by GWIS (Copernicus, CC BY 4.0), which is approximate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Census subdivision boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM3 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). The area per census subdivision is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from official figures.