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CA · Canada · –

Cariboo F fire, 7 July 2017 Cariboo F, Cariboo D, Williams Lake 1

Out · last detection 9 Nov 2017, 20:18 UTC

The fire started on 7 July 2017 in Cariboo F, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 126 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 9,521 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 5 census subdivisions.

It is the 94th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 343 with a page). Number 50 in Canada in 2017, of 242.

Burnt area
9,521ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
126days
7 Jul 2017 – 9 Nov 2017
Census subdivisions hit
5
municipalities
Started on
7 Jul
2017
Heat detections
985
in a single hotspot: 307 MW
Danger at start
59
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
650MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 7 Jul9 Nov
9 Nov 2017

How it evolved, day by day

8 Jul 2017 · 2,259 MW · 587 10 Jul 2017 · 147 MW · 119 12 Jul 2017 · 24 MW · 1 13 Jul 2017 · 19 MW · 14 14 Jul 2017 · 20 MW · 11 15 Jul 2017 · 8,928 MW · 163 16 Jul 2017 · 132 MW · 53 17 Jul 2017 · 11 MW · 1 18 Jul 2017 · 25 MW · 5 19 Jul 2017 · 25 MW · 14 24 Jul 2017 · 4 MW · 1 1 Aug 2017 · 2 MW · 3 4 Aug 2017 · 3 MW · 1 5 Aug 2017 · 2 MW · 3 6 Aug 2017 · 2 MW · 2 8 Aug 2017 · 1 MW · 1 12 Aug 2017 · 8 MW · 4 9 Nov 2017 · 79 MW · 2
8 Jul 15 Jul 18 Jul 4 Aug 12 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

33°high
66km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 16 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.7 mm on 12 Nov.

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 6% of the area of London (95 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. Cariboo F where it started
    7,135 ha reached on 8 Jul
    0.7 %
  2. 1,205 ha reached on 8 Jul
    1.4 %
  3. 679 ha reached on 8 Jul
    41 %
  4. 276 ha reached on 8 Jul
    17 %
  5. 161 ha reached on 8 Jul
    4.5 %

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 2015
Built-up area0.37 ha
Residents≈ 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.37 hectares of built-up land and about 20 residents (GHSL 2015, 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)

Started with Extreme FWI: 1.1 % of the area in Canada Strong wind: 15 % of the area in Canada Very dry air: 9.3 % of the area in Canada

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
7 Jul 32.2 °C 12 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
8 Jul 27.5 °C 22 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
9 Jul 25.6 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.6 mm Very high 40
10 Jul 19.4 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
11 Jul 23.7 °C 23 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
12 Jul 24.9 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
13 Jul 23.6 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
14 Jul 26.8 °C 21 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
15 Jul 26.9 °C 15 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
16 Jul 17.0 °C 37 % 50 km/h 2.2 mm High 25
17 Jul 20.9 °C 24 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
18 Jul 24.9 °C 23 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
19 Jul 26.2 °C 23 % 21 km/h 0.2 mm High 30
20 Jul 16.0 °C 70 % 38 km/h 11.0 mm Very low 2
21 Jul 20.8 °C 42 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
22 Jul 24.3 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
23 Jul 17.3 °C 45 % 41 km/h 3.1 mm Very low 3
24 Jul 22.9 °C 28 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
25 Jul 27.3 °C 20 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
26 Jul 28.5 °C 22 % 26 km/h 0.3 mm High 25
27 Jul 24.7 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm High 27
28 Jul 24.9 °C 31 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
29 Jul 28.9 °C 20 % 35 km/h 0.4 mm High 30
30 Jul 25.4 °C 30 % 29 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
31 Jul 25.4 °C 22 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
1 Aug 26.1 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
2 Aug 29.2 °C 16 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
3 Aug 30.8 °C 16 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
4 Aug 27.4 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
5 Aug 28.9 °C 19 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
6 Aug 30.2 °C 15 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
7 Aug 30.6 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
8 Aug 29.8 °C 18 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
9 Aug 31.8 °C 14 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
10 Aug 32.7 °C 12 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 Aug 33.1 °C 16 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
12 Aug 30.9 °C 25 % 42 km/h 1.0 mm Very high 48
13 Aug 17.7 °C 52 % 37 km/h 9.8 mm Very low 1
14 Aug 18.2 °C 36 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
15 Aug 20.8 °C 33 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
16 Aug 23.6 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 17
17 Aug 25.2 °C 27 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
18 Aug 21.5 °C 38 % 48 km/h 0.9 mm High 28
19 Aug 20.0 °C 28 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
20 Aug 18.2 °C 54 % 19 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 5
21 Aug 23.5 °C 42 % 17 km/h 2.2 mm Low 9
22 Aug 29.1 °C 27 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
23 Aug 25.2 °C 36 % 30 km/h 2.0 mm Moderate 20
24 Aug 17.4 °C 37 % 38 km/h 2.5 mm Very low 4
25 Aug 20.3 °C 29 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
26 Aug 25.9 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
27 Aug 29.0 °C 26 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
28 Aug 28.1 °C 30 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
29 Aug 31.9 °C 12 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
30 Aug 26.2 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.6 mm High 36
31 Aug 21.6 °C 28 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
1 Sept 23.0 °C 30 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
2 Sept 27.9 °C 32 % 50 km/h 5.8 mm Very high 40
3 Sept 21.2 °C 49 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
4 Sept 25.3 °C 29 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
5 Sept 28.1 °C 31 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
6 Sept 28.5 °C 26 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
7 Sept 26.0 °C 38 % 27 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 20
8 Sept 18.2 °C 75 % 23 km/h 7.4 mm Very low 0
9 Sept 17.7 °C 45 % 44 km/h 1.7 mm Very low 3
10 Sept 18.5 °C 44 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 5
11 Sept 20.8 °C 49 % 32 km/h 1.6 mm Low 7
12 Sept 15.7 °C 45 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
13 Sept 15.3 °C 36 % 41 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
14 Sept 16.9 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
15 Sept 18.6 °C 23 % 13 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
16 Sept 20.0 °C 25 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
17 Sept 16.3 °C 32 % 45 km/h 4.6 mm High 32
18 Sept 10.3 °C 46 % 26 km/h 3.8 mm Very low 0
19 Sept 11.9 °C 38 % 23 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 2
20 Sept 8.6 °C 72 % 45 km/h 3.8 mm Very low 1
21 Sept 13.7 °C 36 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
22 Sept 13.3 °C 40 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
23 Sept 14.6 °C 54 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
24 Sept 17.2 °C 54 % 27 km/h 2.6 mm Very low 1
25 Sept 16.2 °C 66 % 20 km/h 3.9 mm Very low 0
26 Sept 20.5 °C 45 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
27 Sept 22.9 °C 37 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
28 Sept 24.2 °C 24 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
29 Sept 19.1 °C 43 % 36 km/h 2.8 mm Moderate 19
30 Sept 10.1 °C 57 % 35 km/h 3.7 mm Very low 0
1 Oct 9.3 °C 56 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
2 Oct 10.3 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
3 Oct 13.0 °C 21 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
4 Oct 15.7 °C 28 % 13 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
5 Oct 18.9 °C 24 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
6 Oct 13.3 °C 47 % 48 km/h 3.8 mm Moderate 14
7 Oct 6.8 °C 69 % 34 km/h 5.9 mm Very low 0
8 Oct 11.2 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
9 Oct 9.9 °C 49 % 18 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 1
10 Oct 4.7 °C 87 % 25 km/h 6.8 mm Very low 0
11 Oct 3.9 °C 63 % 32 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 0
12 Oct 4.6 °C 57 % 20 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 0
13 Oct 3.9 °C 62 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 0
14 Oct 2.3 °C 85 % 27 km/h 12.9 mm Very low 0
15 Oct 7.7 °C 75 % 35 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
16 Oct 14.7 °C 53 % 44 km/h 1.1 mm Very low 0
17 Oct 8.5 °C 40 % 58 km/h 6.3 mm Very low 0
18 Oct 5.4 °C 69 % 53 km/h 8.2 mm Very low 0
19 Oct 11.2 °C 51 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 0
20 Oct 9.3 °C 43 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
21 Oct 6.8 °C 56 % 66 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 2
22 Oct 11.6 °C 31 % 47 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 0
23 Oct 10.3 °C 51 % 45 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 1
24 Oct 12.7 °C 57 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
25 Oct 10.0 °C 50 % 47 km/h 1.5 mm Very low 1
26 Oct 9.4 °C 52 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
27 Oct 11.7 °C 46 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
28 Oct 11.4 °C 57 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
29 Oct 9.8 °C 36 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
30 Oct 6.7 °C 43 % 13 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
31 Oct 7.0 °C 74 % 29 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 1
1 Nov 2.6 °C 56 % 39 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 3
2 Nov -2.4 °C 38 % 46 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 4
3 Nov -7.1 °C 41 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
4 Nov -6.7 °C 53 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
5 Nov -4.1 °C 44 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
6 Nov -3.9 °C 45 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
7 Nov -2.3 °C 54 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
8 Nov 0.4 °C 58 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
9 Nov 0.6 °C 71 % 19 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 2
10 Nov after 0.9 °C 85 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
11 Nov after 2.5 °C 73 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
12 Nov after 5.2 °C 72 % 41 km/h 3.7 mm Very low 2

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 59.4, a minimum humidity of 12% and 16 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2018: 4.

FWI at the start 59.4
Minimum humidity 12 %
Days without rain 16
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Cariboo H fire, June 2021
3,013 ha 50 days FWI 54.3 Min. humidity 14 % 96 km away, in 2021

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.4 mm on 21 Aug.

What happened to them

Fires in the area that started in similar weather: 4. With fewer than 15 we give no figures: they would be more noise than signal.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

3.7 mmfirst rain
12 Nov3 days after it ended
66km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 9 Nov, and on 12 Nov 3.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2018.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 30 Jun 2017
After · 16 Nov 2017

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 · 985Every 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 Cariboo F fire last?
It burned between 7 July 2017 and 9 November 2017: 126 days, according to the dates recorded by Canada’s CWFIS and the heat detections seen by satellite.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 9,521 hectares (95.2 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire entered 5 census subdivisions: Cariboo F (7,135 ha, 0.7 %); Cariboo D (1,205 ha, 1.4 %); Williams Lake 1 (679 ha, 41 %); Deep Creek 2 (276 ha, 17 %); Williams Lake (161 ha, 4.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.1 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 66 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 59, class Extreme.
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.

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
What do you think is wrong?

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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 985 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 2015, 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.