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Cariboo J fire, 31 July 2018 Cariboo J, Cahoose 12

Out · last detection 7 Sept 2018, 20:56 UTC

The fire started on 31 July 2018 in Cariboo J, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 39 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 33,884 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 census subdivisions.

It is the 40th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 448 with a page). Number 11 in Canada in 2018, of 212.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Cariboo J · 2026Cariboo J · 2018Central Coast A · 2023Central Coast C · 2025

Burnt area
33,884ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
39days
31 Jul 2018 – 7 Sept 2018
Census subdivisions hit
2
municipalities
Started on
31 Jul
2018
Heat detections
10,558
in a single hotspot: 962 MW
Danger at start
4
Very low · FWI index
Average daily power
4.8GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 31 Jul7 Sept
7 Sept 2018

How it evolved, day by day

1 Aug 2018 · 20 MW · 1 2 Aug 2018 · 82 MW · 15 3 Aug 2018 · 290 MW · 66 4 Aug 2018 · 117 MW · 15 5 Aug 2018 · 941 MW · 74 6 Aug 2018 · 932 MW · 85 7 Aug 2018 · 11,553 MW · 372 8 Aug 2018 · 8,320 MW · 518 9 Aug 2018 · 14,998 MW · 542 10 Aug 2018 · 17,890 MW · 1329 11 Aug 2018 · 8,024 MW · 745 12 Aug 2018 · 1,435 MW · 336 13 Aug 2018 · 1,190 MW · 261 14 Aug 2018 · 16,699 MW · 609 15 Aug 2018 · 135 MW · 70 16 Aug 2018 · 7,023 MW · 338 17 Aug 2018 · 36,750 MW · 1171 18 Aug 2018 · 3,620 MW · 750 19 Aug 2018 · 655 MW · 244 20 Aug 2018 · 7,619 MW · 313 21 Aug 2018 · 15,369 MW · 583 22 Aug 2018 · 12,343 MW · 950 23 Aug 2018 · 3,600 MW · 596 24 Aug 2018 · 1,613 MW · 279 25 Aug 2018 · 69 MW · 2 26 Aug 2018 · 4 MW · 1 27 Aug 2018 · 48 MW · 24 28 Aug 2018 · 72 MW · 50 29 Aug 2018 · 33 MW · 20 30 Aug 2018 · 164 MW · 16 31 Aug 2018 · 69 MW · 36 1 Sept 2018 · 233 MW · 61 2 Sept 2018 · 13 MW · 1 3 Sept 2018 · 32 MW · 21 4 Sept 2018 · 293 MW · 62 7 Sept 2018 · 9 MW · 2
1 Aug 7 Aug 13 Aug 17 Aug 19 Aug 25 Aug 31 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

25°high
57km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 8 Sept.

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 21% of the area of London (339 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
    34,452 ha reached on 1 Aug
    1.3 %
  2. Cahoose 12
    7 ha reached on 21 Aug
    11 %

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)
31 Jul 24.0 °C 37 % 29 km/h 2.3 mm Very low 4
1 Aug 18.7 °C 45 % 36 km/h 2.7 mm Very low 2
2 Aug 15.9 °C 56 % 51 km/h 1.7 mm Very low 3
3 Aug 16.6 °C 54 % 45 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 5
4 Aug 17.9 °C 44 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
5 Aug 21.6 °C 36 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
6 Aug 22.2 °C 32 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
7 Aug 23.4 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
8 Aug 22.6 °C 37 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
9 Aug 22.4 °C 37 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
10 Aug 22.5 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
11 Aug 16.4 °C 39 % 33 km/h 2.6 mm Very low 3
12 Aug 20.5 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
13 Aug 22.1 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
14 Aug 21.7 °C 33 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
15 Aug 18.9 °C 43 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
16 Aug 20.2 °C 26 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
17 Aug 18.8 °C 35 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
18 Aug 20.7 °C 29 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
19 Aug 21.2 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
20 Aug 22.5 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
21 Aug 24.7 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
22 Aug 19.2 °C 34 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
23 Aug 13.2 °C 45 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
24 Aug 15.0 °C 44 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
25 Aug 12.3 °C 61 % 39 km/h 4.8 mm Very low 1
26 Aug 11.9 °C 57 % 35 km/h 4.8 mm Very low 0
27 Aug 17.4 °C 40 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
28 Aug 17.2 °C 50 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
29 Aug 12.9 °C 67 % 45 km/h 5.1 mm Very low 0
30 Aug 12.2 °C 55 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
31 Aug 11.0 °C 66 % 57 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 4
1 Sept 11.8 °C 48 % 41 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 4
2 Sept 8.3 °C 67 % 57 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 4
3 Sept 11.0 °C 46 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
4 Sept 14.4 °C 34 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
5 Sept 14.5 °C 41 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
6 Sept 14.5 °C 48 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
7 Sept 12.1 °C 72 % 36 km/h 12.2 mm Very low 0
8 Sept after 10.7 °C 57 % 27 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Jul 2018
After · 14 Sept 2018

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 · 10,558Every 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?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 31 July 2018 to 7 September 2018 (39 days). The perimeter dates it from 31 July 2018 to 5 September 2018.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 33,884 hectares (338.8 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire entered 2 census subdivisions: Cariboo J (34,452 ha, 1.3 %); Cahoose 12 (7 ha, 11 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 24.7 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 57 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, 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 adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 31 July 2018 to 5 September 2018. 10,558 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.