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Cariboo H fire, June 2021 Cariboo H

Out · last detection 18 Aug 2021, 21:21 UTC

The fire started on 30 June 2021 in Cariboo H, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 50 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 3,013 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 241th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 448 with a page). Number 190 in Canada in 2021, of 304.

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Suggestions: Cariboo H · 2021

Burnt area
3,013ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
50days
30 Jun 2021 – 18 Aug 2021
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
30 Jun
2021
Heat detections
883
in a single hotspot: 142 MW
Danger at start
41
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
188MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 30 Jun18 Aug
18 Aug 2021

How it evolved, day by day

3 Jul 2021 · 12 MW · 8 4 Jul 2021 · 765 MW · 28 5 Jul 2021 · 795 MW · 89 6 Jul 2021 · 1,365 MW · 99 7 Jul 2021 · 697 MW · 84 8 Jul 2021 · 100 MW · 18 9 Jul 2021 · 165 MW · 29 10 Jul 2021 · 286 MW · 40 11 Jul 2021 · 4 MW · 5 12 Jul 2021 · 158 MW · 22 13 Jul 2021 · 238 MW · 45 14 Jul 2021 · 579 MW · 81 15 Jul 2021 · 82 MW · 37 16 Jul 2021 · 10 MW · 1 17 Jul 2021 · 11 MW · 7 18 Jul 2021 · 50 MW · 4 19 Jul 2021 · 130 MW · 48 20 Jul 2021 · 126 MW · 41 21 Jul 2021 · 34 MW · 19 25 Jul 2021 · 10 MW · 4 26 Jul 2021 · 3 MW · 1 27 Jul 2021 · 12 MW · 4 28 Jul 2021 · 88 MW · 23 29 Jul 2021 · 137 MW · 47 30 Jul 2021 · 141 MW · 27 31 Jul 2021 · 383 MW · 40 1 Aug 2021 · 25 MW · 7 4 Aug 2021 · 15 MW · 3 5 Aug 2021 · 119 MW · 13 11 Aug 2021 · 3 MW · 1 12 Aug 2021 · 1 MW · 1 13 Aug 2021 · 14 MW · 4 14 Aug 2021 · 2 MW · 1 16 Aug 2021 · 1 MW · 1 18 Aug 2021 · 3 MW · 1
3 Jul 6 Jul 8 Jul 13 Jul 18 Jul 26 Jul 31 Jul 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

36°high
46km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 21 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 1.9% of the area of London (30 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 H where it started
    2,999 ha reached on 3 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)
30 Jun 36.4 °C 14 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
1 Jul 27.7 °C 32 % 33 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 20
2 Jul 24.2 °C 12 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
3 Jul 24.5 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
4 Jul 22.1 °C 30 % 39 km/h 0.5 mm High 26
5 Jul 21.1 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.3 mm High 22
6 Jul 24.4 °C 25 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
7 Jul 26.2 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
8 Jul 24.1 °C 28 % 31 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 17
9 Jul 25.4 °C 27 % 18 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 20
10 Jul 25.4 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.8 mm High 23
11 Jul 22.4 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
12 Jul 25.6 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
13 Jul 28.4 °C 14 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
14 Jul 25.8 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
15 Jul 22.8 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
16 Jul 21.7 °C 37 % 30 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 13
17 Jul 21.5 °C 24 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
18 Jul 21.8 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
19 Jul 26.5 °C 12 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
20 Jul 22.9 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
21 Jul 17.1 °C 30 % 44 km/h 1.9 mm Low 10
22 Jul 16.9 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 21
23 Jul 19.3 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
24 Jul 21.0 °C 31 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
25 Jul 20.8 °C 35 % 45 km/h 0.7 mm High 23
26 Jul 22.2 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
27 Jul 23.1 °C 22 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
28 Jul 26.2 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
29 Jul 26.8 °C 15 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
30 Jul 29.7 °C 10 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
31 Jul 27.8 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Aug 17.9 °C 54 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm High 24
2 Aug 24.2 °C 42 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
3 Aug 27.6 °C 12 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
4 Aug 27.6 °C 12 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Aug 27.0 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 46
6 Aug 15.2 °C 42 % 34 km/h 1.8 mm Low 7
7 Aug 14.8 °C 63 % 31 km/h 7.9 mm Very low 0
8 Aug 17.3 °C 43 % 38 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 5
9 Aug 20.4 °C 37 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm Low 10
10 Aug 21.5 °C 42 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
11 Aug 22.5 °C 18 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
12 Aug 24.7 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
13 Aug 28.9 °C 14 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
14 Aug 26.5 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Aug 18.9 °C 42 % 34 km/h 2.5 mm Very low 5
16 Aug 14.4 °C 38 % 29 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 5
17 Aug 18.0 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 14
18 Aug 19.8 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
19 Aug after 16.3 °C 45 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
20 Aug after 18.4 °C 32 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
21 Aug after 20.5 °C 23 % 29 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 15

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 23 Jun 2021
After · 25 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 · 883Every 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 H fire last?
It burned between 30 June 2021 and 18 August 2021: 50 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 3,013 hectares (30.1 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Cariboo H (2,999 ha, 1.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, class Very 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.

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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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 883 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.