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Cat Fire, August 2018 Coconino

Out · last detection 30 Sept 2018, 09:00 UTC

The fire started on 6 August 2018 in Coconino, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 56 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 1,852 hectares, spread across a single county.

It is the 142th largest in Arizona since 2016 (of 380 with a page). Number 214 in United States in 2018, of 511.

Burnt area
1,852ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
56days
6 Aug 2018 – 30 Sept 2018
Municipalities hit
1
counties
Started on
6 Aug
2018
Heat detections
493
in a single hotspot: 182 MW
Danger at start
45
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
133MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

30 Sept 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Aug30 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

7 Aug 2018 · 394 MW · 8 8 Aug 2018 · 230 MW · 33 9 Aug 2018 · 933 MW · 64 10 Aug 2018 · 522 MW · 56 11 Aug 2018 · 177 MW · 31 12 Aug 2018 · 71 MW · 23 13 Aug 2018 · 296 MW · 33 20 Aug 2018 · 83 MW · 7 21 Aug 2018 · 7 MW · 2 28 Aug 2018 · 9 MW · 2 29 Aug 2018 · 4 MW · 3 30 Aug 2018 · 34 MW · 5 31 Aug 2018 · 8 MW · 5 1 Sept 2018 · 10 MW · 4 2 Sept 2018 · 6 MW · 4 3 Sept 2018 · 3 MW · 2 9 Sept 2018 · 12 MW · 3 10 Sept 2018 · 45 MW · 9 11 Sept 2018 · 59 MW · 15 12 Sept 2018 · 623 MW · 21 13 Sept 2018 · 144 MW · 31 14 Sept 2018 · 218 MW · 24 15 Sept 2018 · 37 MW · 15 16 Sept 2018 · 15 MW · 11 17 Sept 2018 · 5 MW · 4 18 Sept 2018 · 9 MW · 12 19 Sept 2018 · 10 MW · 12 24 Sept 2018 · 0 MW · 1 26 Sept 2018 · 7 MW · 3 27 Sept 2018 · 2 MW · 1 28 Sept 2018 · 275 MW · 15 29 Sept 2018 · 113 MW · 24 30 Sept 2018 · 24 MW · 10
7 Aug 9 Aug 12 Aug 29 Aug 3 Sept 13 Sept 18 Sept 28 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

34°high
71km/h · peak gust
4%lowest humidity

It had gone 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 14.3 mm on 2 Oct.

This area had burned before

0% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 9 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Coconino where it started
    1,878 ha reached on 7 Aug
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each county, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

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)
6 Aug 32.7 °C 4 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
7 Aug 33.5 °C 6 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
8 Aug 31.6 °C 10 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 44
9 Aug 30.8 °C 9 % 43 km/h 0.5 mm Very high 45
10 Aug 32.4 °C 8 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
11 Aug 28.3 °C 19 % 31 km/h 2.4 mm Moderate 16
12 Aug 29.4 °C 14 % 44 km/h 1.4 mm High 25
13 Aug 28.2 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.9 mm High 29
14 Aug 28.8 °C 16 % 45 km/h 0.5 mm High 35
15 Aug 27.0 °C 18 % 35 km/h 2.5 mm Moderate 12
16 Aug 26.6 °C 26 % 32 km/h 1.2 mm Moderate 16
17 Aug 25.7 °C 25 % 33 km/h 3.0 mm Low 8
18 Aug 27.7 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
19 Aug 30.1 °C 12 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
20 Aug 29.3 °C 15 % 67 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 40
21 Aug 25.9 °C 25 % 63 km/h 1.6 mm Moderate 18
22 Aug 24.1 °C 38 % 31 km/h 8.5 mm Very low 3
23 Aug 23.6 °C 39 % 31 km/h 1.2 mm Very low 5
24 Aug 25.1 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
25 Aug 24.8 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
26 Aug 24.6 °C 26 % 60 km/h 0.5 mm High 25
27 Aug 26.9 °C 9 % 66 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
28 Aug 26.9 °C 10 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
29 Aug 27.2 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Aug 28.1 °C 10 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
31 Aug 27.1 °C 12 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Sept 25.8 °C 12 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
2 Sept 26.3 °C 14 % 27 km/h 0.6 mm High 30
3 Sept 23.7 °C 21 % 35 km/h 26.2 mm Very low 2
4 Sept 20.7 °C 41 % 23 km/h 3.8 mm Very low 1
5 Sept 22.4 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 4
6 Sept 23.5 °C 30 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
7 Sept 25.1 °C 22 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
8 Sept 27.0 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
9 Sept 27.9 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
10 Sept 27.5 °C 10 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
11 Sept 27.4 °C 10 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Sept 27.2 °C 5 % 70 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
13 Sept 26.0 °C 4 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Sept 27.5 °C 8 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
15 Sept 28.9 °C 13 % 64 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
16 Sept 26.9 °C 18 % 52 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 39
17 Sept 27.9 °C 15 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Sept 27.6 °C 14 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
19 Sept 22.2 °C 22 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
20 Sept 25.0 °C 8 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 Sept 25.7 °C 7 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Sept 25.8 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Sept 24.7 °C 13 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
24 Sept 24.8 °C 17 % 59 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 44
25 Sept 23.4 °C 19 % 30 km/h 4.0 mm Very low 5
26 Sept 24.5 °C 8 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
27 Sept 26.3 °C 6 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Sept 25.9 °C 7 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
29 Sept 24.8 °C 12 % 68 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
30 Sept 23.2 °C 21 % 71 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Oct after 19.4 °C 42 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
2 Oct after 14.6 °C 75 % 49 km/h 14.3 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 Jul 2018
After · 7 Oct 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 · 493Every 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 United States ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Cat fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 August 2018 to 30 September 2018 (56 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 August 2018 to 6 August 2018.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 1,852 hectares (18.5 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire only entered Coconino (1,878 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.5 °C, humidity dropped to 4 % and gusts hit 71 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 53, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the official burnt perimeter of United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC, public domain), NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of United States. 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

Satellite cross-check

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.

Where this data comes from

The perimeter is official and in the public domain. For past years it comes from MTBS (Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity), run by the U.S. Geological Survey and the USDA Forest Service, which map it on Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery. For the current and last year it comes from WFIGS at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC): incident perimeters mapped by fire crews, aircraft and imagery. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. County boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Public Domain). The area per county is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from official figures.