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Bull Complex, August 2021 Marion, Clackamas

Out · last detection 4 Aug 2021, 20:41 UTC

The fire started on 3 August 2021 in Marion, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 10,612 hectares, spread across 2 counties.

It is the 68th largest in Oregon since 2016 (of 327 with a page). Number 52 in United States in 2021, of 385.

Burnt area
10,612ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
1day
3 Aug 2021 – 3 Aug 2021
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
3 Aug
2021
Heat detections
2,917
in a single hotspot: 365 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Energy released
232MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

4 Aug 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 3 Aug3 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

34

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
72km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 22.0 mm on 27 Sept.

This area had burned before

0% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 41 ha in 2020.

What happened to each town

  1. Marion where it started
    7,571 ha reached on 3 Aug
    2.5 %
  2. Clackamas
    3,003 ha reached on 13 Aug
    0.6 %

Burnt area inside each county, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

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)
3 Aug 32.0 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
4 Aug after 33.7 °C 19 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
5 Aug after 24.5 °C 44 % 58 km/h 0.4 mm High 31
6 Aug after 25.7 °C 38 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
7 Aug after 28.4 °C 36 % 59 km/h 0.7 mm High 29
8 Aug after 21.0 °C 38 % 44 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 18
9 Aug after 29.9 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
10 Aug after 32.4 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
11 Aug after 37.3 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
12 Aug after 37.3 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Aug after 33.8 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 42
14 Aug after 33.0 °C 25 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 40
15 Aug after 33.1 °C 23 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
16 Aug after 28.4 °C 32 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
17 Aug after 15.7 °C 57 % 59 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 18
18 Aug after 22.9 °C 39 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
19 Aug after 23.6 °C 44 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
20 Aug after 19.2 °C 52 % 44 km/h 1.3 mm Low 11
21 Aug after 17.8 °C 52 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 14
22 Aug after 18.2 °C 50 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
23 Aug after 21.7 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
24 Aug after 26.1 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
25 Aug after 23.5 °C 31 % 47 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
26 Aug after 22.4 °C 41 % 47 km/h 1.6 mm Moderate 14
27 Aug after 21.2 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
28 Aug after 28.6 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
29 Aug after 28.8 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
30 Aug after 18.9 °C 38 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
31 Aug after 19.5 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
1 Sept after 23.8 °C 22 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
2 Sept after 25.5 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
3 Sept after 26.4 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Sept after 29.2 °C 18 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
5 Sept after 28.3 °C 31 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
6 Sept after 29.8 °C 21 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
7 Sept after 30.9 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
8 Sept after 29.0 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
9 Sept after 26.8 °C 31 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
10 Sept after 17.2 °C 78 % 32 km/h 13.8 mm Very low 0
11 Sept after 24.3 °C 38 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
12 Sept after 20.8 °C 50 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
13 Sept after 21.8 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
14 Sept after 25.3 °C 26 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
15 Sept after 19.5 °C 27 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
16 Sept after 19.2 °C 24 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
17 Sept after 23.0 °C 23 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
18 Sept after 15.2 °C 73 % 72 km/h 35.2 mm Very low 0
19 Sept after 12.8 °C 69 % 58 km/h 25.1 mm Very low 0
20 Sept after 21.0 °C 39 % 28 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
21 Sept after 25.9 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 5
22 Sept after 18.1 °C 59 % 51 km/h 1.2 mm Very low 4
23 Sept after 24.6 °C 32 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
24 Sept after 25.6 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
25 Sept after 24.5 °C 34 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
26 Sept after 21.5 °C 33 % 52 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 15
27 Sept after 14.8 °C 81 % 58 km/h 22.0 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 27 Jul 2021
After · 10 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 · 2,917Every 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 United States ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bull Complex fire last?
It burned between 3 August 2021 and 3 August 2021: 1 day, according to the start date recorded by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) and the heat detections seen by satellite.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 10,612 hectares (106.1 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire entered 2 counties: Marion (7,571 ha, 2.5 %); Clackamas (3,003 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.3 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 72 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the official burnt perimeter of United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC, public domain), NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of United States. 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

Satellite cross-check

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.

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Where this data comes from

The perimeter is official and in the public domain. For past years it comes from MTBS (Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity), run by the U.S. Geological Survey and the USDA Forest Service, which map it on Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery. For the current and last year it comes from WFIGS at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC): incident perimeters mapped by fire crews, aircraft and imagery. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. County boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Public Domain). The area per county is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from official figures.