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Cariboo I fire, 18 July 2024 Cariboo I

Out · last detection 20 Sept 2024, 20:12 UTC

The fire started on 18 July 2024 in Cariboo I, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 65 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 2,052 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 240th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 343 with a page). Number 216 in Canada in 2024, of 291.

Burnt area
2,052ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
65days
18 Jul 2024 – 20 Sept 2024
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
18 Jul
2024
Heat detections
459
in a single hotspot: 106 MW
Danger at start
21
High · FWI index
Average daily power
162MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Jul20 Sept
20 Sept 2024

How it evolved, day by day

21 Jul 2024 · 9 MW · 4 22 Jul 2024 · 261 MW · 44 23 Jul 2024 · 5 MW · 2 3 Aug 2024 · 1 MW · 1 6 Aug 2024 · 24 MW · 7 7 Aug 2024 · 24 MW · 9 8 Aug 2024 · 476 MW · 22 9 Aug 2024 · 30 MW · 8 10 Aug 2024 · 354 MW · 34 11 Aug 2024 · 204 MW · 20 12 Aug 2024 · 50 MW · 18 13 Aug 2024 · 81 MW · 23 14 Aug 2024 · 151 MW · 25 15 Aug 2024 · 117 MW · 26 17 Aug 2024 · 1 MW · 1 18 Aug 2024 · 37 MW · 3 1 Sept 2024 · 4 MW · 1 3 Sept 2024 · 15 MW · 2 4 Sept 2024 · 1 MW · 1 5 Sept 2024 · 16 MW · 2 6 Sept 2024 · 416 MW · 35 7 Sept 2024 · 1,704 MW · 109 8 Sept 2024 · 215 MW · 55 12 Sept 2024 · 3 MW · 1 13 Sept 2024 · 11 MW · 3 20 Sept 2024 · 7 MW · 3
21 Jul 8 Aug 14 Aug 7 Sept

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
54km/h · peak gust
20%lowest humidity

It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.3 mm on 21 Sept.

This area had burned before

17% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 349 ha in 2017.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.3% of the area of London (21 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 I where it started
    2,056 ha reached on 21 Jul
    0.2 %

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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)
18 Jul 28.2 °C 30 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
19 Jul 24.2 °C 46 % 35 km/h 1.8 mm Low 6
20 Jul 29.9 °C 27 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
21 Jul 31.0 °C 21 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Jul 24.2 °C 46 % 46 km/h 6.2 mm Very low 4
23 Jul 16.7 °C 43 % 46 km/h 0.4 mm Low 8
24 Jul 14.2 °C 62 % 24 km/h 11.0 mm Very low 0
25 Jul 16.8 °C 48 % 48 km/h 7.8 mm Very low 0
26 Jul 18.0 °C 52 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
27 Jul 24.2 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
28 Jul 22.2 °C 51 % 29 km/h 9.2 mm Very low 0
29 Jul 17.0 °C 69 % 24 km/h 9.6 mm Very low 0
30 Jul 20.2 °C 56 % 35 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 1
31 Jul 22.2 °C 39 % 45 km/h 3.3 mm Very low 1
1 Aug 25.4 °C 26 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
2 Aug 27.9 °C 29 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
3 Aug 26.8 °C 25 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
4 Aug 26.9 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
5 Aug 21.7 °C 38 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
6 Aug 22.9 °C 36 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
7 Aug 25.8 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
8 Aug 26.4 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 15
9 Aug 26.5 °C 32 % 24 km/h 1.8 mm Low 6
10 Aug 26.4 °C 36 % 16 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 12
11 Aug 26.9 °C 42 % 20 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 12
12 Aug 25.0 °C 33 % 29 km/h 1.6 mm Low 8
13 Aug 19.7 °C 59 % 27 km/h 1.7 mm Very low 3
14 Aug 24.1 °C 31 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
15 Aug 20.5 °C 49 % 22 km/h 0.8 mm Low 8
16 Aug 18.0 °C 64 % 28 km/h 3.4 mm Very low 1
17 Aug 23.1 °C 39 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
18 Aug 21.7 °C 40 % 33 km/h 4.3 mm Very low 2
19 Aug 17.9 °C 58 % 38 km/h 4.8 mm Very low 1
20 Aug 19.8 °C 51 % 36 km/h 2.4 mm Very low 1
21 Aug 12.4 °C 85 % 30 km/h 15.8 mm Very low 0
22 Aug 21.3 °C 43 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 0
23 Aug 20.5 °C 44 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
24 Aug 20.4 °C 39 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
25 Aug 19.1 °C 50 % 32 km/h 4.4 mm Very low 1
26 Aug 14.8 °C 72 % 47 km/h 11.4 mm Very low 0
27 Aug 15.4 °C 34 % 54 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 1
28 Aug 20.3 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
29 Aug 23.4 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
30 Aug 23.0 °C 38 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
31 Aug 28.0 °C 27 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
1 Sept 27.5 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
2 Sept 21.2 °C 42 % 27 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 12
3 Sept 21.5 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
4 Sept 25.5 °C 30 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
5 Sept 29.9 °C 20 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
6 Sept 27.2 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
7 Sept 26.6 °C 32 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
8 Sept 20.7 °C 51 % 30 km/h 6.8 mm Very low 1
9 Sept 16.1 °C 38 % 32 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 2
10 Sept 18.0 °C 39 % 29 km/h 0.1 mm Low 6
11 Sept 17.9 °C 42 % 24 km/h 0.8 mm Low 5
12 Sept 19.0 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.1 mm Low 9
13 Sept 16.1 °C 55 % 25 km/h 6.2 mm Very low 0
14 Sept 13.2 °C 66 % 27 km/h 6.0 mm Very low 0
15 Sept 16.6 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
16 Sept 20.2 °C 49 % 33 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 2
17 Sept 15.2 °C 80 % 24 km/h 6.8 mm Very low 0
18 Sept 17.5 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
19 Sept 13.8 °C 45 % 49 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 3
20 Sept 13.5 °C 40 % 38 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 4
21 Sept after 16.1 °C 63 % 49 km/h 4.3 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 21.3, a minimum humidity of 30% and 8 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2017: 19.

FWI at the start 21.3
Minimum humidity 30 %
Days without rain 8
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Cariboo I fire, July 2023
7,027 ha 31 days FWI 20.1 Min. humidity 30 % 55 km away, in 2023

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 13.6 mm on 8 Aug.

What happened to them

73 days
median duration
6,576 ha
median area
32 %
went past 10,000 ha
3.7 mm
rain at the end (median; 19 of 19 had it)

It stayed below its twins: 2,052 ha against a median of 6,576 ha. It lasted 65 days, against 73 days.

All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 3.7 mm.

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

4.3 mmfirst rain
21 Septthe day after it ended
54km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 20 Sept, and on 21 Sept 4.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 19 of 19, with a median of 3.7 mm.

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 2017.
  • 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 · 11 Jul 2024
After · 27 Sept 2024

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

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 15 August 2024 the air beside the fire reached 401 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 222: 15 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak401 µg/m³
Days over the guideline19 days
PM10574 µg/m³
Optical depth7.11
16 Jul30 Jul13 Aug27 Aug10 Sept
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 459Every 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 I fire last?
It burned between 18 July 2024 and 20 September 2024: 65 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 2,052 hectares (20.5 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Cariboo I (2,056 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.0 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2017 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 19. Their median duration was 73 days and their median area 6,576 ha; 32 % went past 10,000 ha. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 3.7 mm.

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. 459 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 2025, 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.