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Cariboo J fire, July 2017 Cariboo J

Out · last detection 23 Oct 2017, 22:18 UTC

The fire started on 7 July 2017 in Cariboo J, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 108 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 24,754 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 50th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 448 with a page). Number 20 in Canada in 2017, of 242.

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Suggestions: Cariboo J · 2025Cariboo J · 2021Cariboo J · 2025Cariboo J · 2023

Burnt area
24,754ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
108days
7 Jul 2017 – 22 Oct 2017
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
7 Jul
2017
Heat detections
4,399
in a single hotspot: 1,307 MW
Danger at start
18
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
1.3GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 7 Jul22 Oct
23 Oct 2017

How it evolved, day by day

8 Jul 2017 · 47 MW · 4 9 Jul 2017 · 4,887 MW · 68 11 Jul 2017 · 130 MW · 67 12 Jul 2017 · 562 MW · 36 13 Jul 2017 · 1,252 MW · 71 14 Jul 2017 · 213 MW · 32 15 Jul 2017 · 4,455 MW · 127 16 Jul 2017 · 2,687 MW · 88 17 Jul 2017 · 1,209 MW · 168 18 Jul 2017 · 1,786 MW · 143 19 Jul 2017 · 475 MW · 125 30 Jul 2017 · 79 MW · 10 31 Jul 2017 · 51 MW · 8 1 Aug 2017 · 281 MW · 36 2 Aug 2017 · 161 MW · 33 3 Aug 2017 · 281 MW · 28 4 Aug 2017 · 5,436 MW · 276 5 Aug 2017 · 1,032 MW · 194 6 Aug 2017 · 292 MW · 93 7 Aug 2017 · 314 MW · 77 8 Aug 2017 · 137 MW · 40 9 Aug 2017 · 196 MW · 57 10 Aug 2017 · 203 MW · 73 11 Aug 2017 · 1,305 MW · 89 12 Aug 2017 · 122 MW · 28 13 Aug 2017 · 2,120 MW · 103 14 Aug 2017 · 1,615 MW · 139 15 Aug 2017 · 123 MW · 52 16 Aug 2017 · 24,908 MW · 247 17 Aug 2017 · 2,220 MW · 325 18 Aug 2017 · 15,386 MW · 460 19 Aug 2017 · 1,676 MW · 359 21 Aug 2017 · 24 MW · 21 22 Aug 2017 · 56 MW · 41 23 Aug 2017 · 419 MW · 27 24 Aug 2017 · 1,107 MW · 58 26 Aug 2017 · 62 MW · 10 27 Aug 2017 · 231 MW · 47 28 Aug 2017 · 814 MW · 93 29 Aug 2017 · 1,992 MW · 143 30 Aug 2017 · 515 MW · 54 31 Aug 2017 · 289 MW · 82 1 Sept 2017 · 18 MW · 1 2 Sept 2017 · 10 MW · 9 3 Sept 2017 · 17 MW · 3 4 Sept 2017 · 843 MW · 22 5 Sept 2017 · 147 MW · 41 6 Sept 2017 · 86 MW · 33 11 Sept 2017 · 65 MW · 18 14 Sept 2017 · 3 MW · 1 15 Sept 2017 · 15 MW · 3 16 Sept 2017 · 25 MW · 3 18 Sept 2017 · 4 MW · 2 19 Sept 2017 · 2 MW · 1 22 Sept 2017 · 1 MW · 1 27 Sept 2017 · 0 MW · 1 3 Oct 2017 · 2 MW · 2 5 Oct 2017 · 25 MW · 4 6 Oct 2017 · 14 MW · 8 21 Oct 2017 · 23 MW · 2 22 Oct 2017 · 113 MW · 2 23 Oct 2017 · 282 MW · 10
8 Jul 18 Jul 6 Aug 15 Aug 16 Aug 26 Aug 4 Sept 22 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

28°high
67km/h · peak gust
17%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 23 Oct.

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 16% of the area of London (248 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 J where it started
    24,705 ha reached on 8 Jul
    0.9 %

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 area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
7 Jul 20.3 °C 29 % 52 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 18
8 Jul 21.2 °C 32 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
9 Jul 17.8 °C 25 % 48 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
10 Jul 14.4 °C 46 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
11 Jul 18.1 °C 33 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 18
12 Jul 15.6 °C 47 % 41 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 14
13 Jul 15.4 °C 44 % 39 km/h 1.1 mm Low 9
14 Jul 18.2 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
15 Jul 15.4 °C 38 % 63 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 18
16 Jul 12.8 °C 40 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
17 Jul 18.8 °C 24 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
18 Jul 21.6 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
19 Jul 20.4 °C 36 % 31 km/h 4.5 mm Very low 3
20 Jul 15.2 °C 60 % 37 km/h 5.2 mm Very low 0
21 Jul 13.4 °C 61 % 30 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 1
22 Jul 15.2 °C 60 % 44 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 4
23 Jul 15.6 °C 37 % 42 km/h 1.1 mm Very low 5
24 Jul 21.9 °C 24 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
25 Jul 24.3 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
26 Jul 20.2 °C 40 % 50 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 20
27 Jul 19.4 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 19
28 Jul 19.5 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
29 Jul 17.8 °C 50 % 54 km/h 2.3 mm Very low 5
30 Jul 19.9 °C 29 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
31 Jul 23.3 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
1 Aug 23.8 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
2 Aug 27.2 °C 22 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
3 Aug 28.3 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
4 Aug 23.3 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
5 Aug 24.9 °C 23 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
6 Aug 26.7 °C 24 % 30 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 20
7 Aug 25.7 °C 24 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
8 Aug 26.1 °C 23 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
9 Aug 27.8 °C 23 % 23 km/h 0.4 mm High 26
10 Aug 27.9 °C 25 % 25 km/h 0.2 mm High 26
11 Aug 25.3 °C 24 % 42 km/h 0.2 mm High 30
12 Aug 21.1 °C 31 % 50 km/h 1.5 mm Moderate 15
13 Aug 13.9 °C 43 % 45 km/h 2.2 mm Low 6
14 Aug 17.6 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
15 Aug 17.7 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
16 Aug 19.1 °C 34 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
17 Aug 19.7 °C 38 % 59 km/h 0.1 mm High 24
18 Aug 13.5 °C 40 % 56 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 19
19 Aug 16.8 °C 37 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
20 Aug 16.1 °C 54 % 36 km/h 1.5 mm Low 7
21 Aug 21.2 °C 53 % 34 km/h 4.2 mm Very low 2
22 Aug 21.5 °C 50 % 42 km/h 2.8 mm Very low 3
23 Aug 17.5 °C 35 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
24 Aug 12.6 °C 42 % 46 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 11
25 Aug 16.3 °C 44 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
26 Aug 17.6 °C 51 % 45 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 14
27 Aug 23.2 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
28 Aug 24.0 °C 31 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
29 Aug 23.5 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
30 Aug 18.2 °C 42 % 51 km/h 0.4 mm High 23
31 Aug 18.1 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
1 Sept 14.8 °C 52 % 31 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 16
2 Sept 15.8 °C 73 % 51 km/h 6.8 mm Very low 0
3 Sept 19.0 °C 57 % 21 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 1
4 Sept 23.0 °C 40 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
5 Sept 25.7 °C 31 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
6 Sept 23.4 °C 36 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
7 Sept 18.9 °C 56 % 39 km/h 1.3 mm Low 6
8 Sept 16.4 °C 57 % 24 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 3
9 Sept 10.4 °C 64 % 57 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 3
10 Sept 9.7 °C 60 % 52 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 4
11 Sept 13.5 °C 65 % 60 km/h 10.6 mm Very low 0
12 Sept 11.4 °C 66 % 31 km/h 7.0 mm Very low 0
13 Sept 11.2 °C 33 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
14 Sept 14.6 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
15 Sept 16.0 °C 28 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
16 Sept 15.8 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
17 Sept 8.5 °C 61 % 50 km/h 5.2 mm Very low 0
18 Sept 7.2 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
19 Sept 8.9 °C 40 % 23 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
20 Sept 4.5 °C 69 % 35 km/h 9.0 mm Very low 0
21 Sept 11.2 °C 35 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
22 Sept 8.3 °C 51 % 16 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
23 Sept 13.0 °C 59 % 25 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 1
24 Sept 13.6 °C 59 % 37 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 1
25 Sept 12.3 °C 69 % 26 km/h 3.3 mm Very low 0
26 Sept 16.9 °C 57 % 22 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 0
27 Sept 19.8 °C 41 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
28 Sept 18.4 °C 37 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
29 Sept 8.9 °C 74 % 41 km/h 5.9 mm Very low 0
30 Sept 7.1 °C 56 % 36 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
1 Oct 7.2 °C 45 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
2 Oct 7.0 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 1
3 Oct 11.1 °C 31 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
4 Oct 13.1 °C 28 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
5 Oct 15.2 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
6 Oct 6.6 °C 64 % 67 km/h 3.7 mm Very low 0
7 Oct 6.1 °C 54 % 52 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
8 Oct 8.3 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
9 Oct 4.4 °C 65 % 47 km/h 3.9 mm Very low 0
10 Oct 1.2 °C 74 % 36 km/h 24.0 mm Very low 0
11 Oct 0.7 °C 61 % 29 km/h 4.7 mm Very low 0
12 Oct 0.8 °C 75 % 22 km/h 4.3 mm Very low 0
13 Oct 0.4 °C 61 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 0
14 Oct 3.5 °C 75 % 46 km/h 3.5 mm Very low 0
15 Oct 5.4 °C 71 % 62 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 0
16 Oct 5.6 °C 82 % 63 km/h 41.7 mm Very low 0
17 Oct 2.9 °C 47 % 55 km/h 22.6 mm Very low 0
18 Oct 1.8 °C 72 % 54 km/h 19.3 mm Very low 0
19 Oct 4.8 °C 63 % 49 km/h 3.7 mm Very low 0
20 Oct 2.7 °C 58 % 36 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
21 Oct 1.9 °C 70 % 59 km/h 7.8 mm Very low 0
22 Oct 3.9 °C 61 % 51 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 0
23 Oct after 5.5 °C 68 % 55 km/h 1.2 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 30 Jun 2017
After · 29 Oct 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 · 4,399Every 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 J fire last?
It burned between 7 July 2017 and 22 October 2017: 108 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 24,754 hectares (247.5 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Cariboo J (24,705 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.3 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 67 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 4,399 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.