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Central Kootenay C fire, July 2018 Central Kootenay C, Central Kootenay A

Out · last detection 9 Sept 2018, 20:17 UTC

The fire started on 28 July 2018 in Central Kootenay C, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 44 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 7,358 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 census subdivisions.

It is the 133th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 448 with a page). Number 49 in Canada in 2018, of 212.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Central Kootenay A · 2021Central Kootenay C · 2026Upper Smith · 2026North Fork Hughes · 2017

Burnt area
7,358ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
44days
28 Jul 2018 – 9 Sept 2018
Census subdivisions hit
2
municipalities
Started on
28 Jul
2018
Heat detections
1,473
in a single hotspot: 765 MW
Danger at start
18
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
636MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 28 Jul9 Sept
9 Sept 2018

How it evolved, day by day

30 Jul 2018 · 47 MW · 9 31 Jul 2018 · 2 MW · 4 1 Aug 2018 · 0 MW · 1 2 Aug 2018 · 618 MW · 15 3 Aug 2018 · 178 MW · 20 4 Aug 2018 · 6 MW · 4 5 Aug 2018 · 4 MW · 2 6 Aug 2018 · 17 MW · 1 7 Aug 2018 · 13 MW · 3 8 Aug 2018 · 415 MW · 25 9 Aug 2018 · 63 MW · 14 10 Aug 2018 · 4 MW · 3 11 Aug 2018 · 12,096 MW · 142 12 Aug 2018 · 718 MW · 258 13 Aug 2018 · 78 MW · 26 14 Aug 2018 · 95 MW · 35 15 Aug 2018 · 915 MW · 85 16 Aug 2018 · 935 MW · 90 17 Aug 2018 · 34 MW · 22 18 Aug 2018 · 348 MW · 69 19 Aug 2018 · 513 MW · 79 20 Aug 2018 · 1,133 MW · 75 21 Aug 2018 · 1,382 MW · 122 22 Aug 2018 · 1,134 MW · 121 23 Aug 2018 · 493 MW · 136 24 Aug 2018 · 163 MW · 34 25 Aug 2018 · 63 MW · 20 26 Aug 2018 · 2 MW · 2 31 Aug 2018 · 2 MW · 1 2 Sept 2018 · 6 MW · 3 3 Sept 2018 · 4 MW · 1 5 Sept 2018 · 29 MW · 4 6 Sept 2018 · 38 MW · 10 7 Sept 2018 · 1,325 MW · 27 8 Sept 2018 · 26 MW · 8 9 Sept 2018 · 12 MW · 2
30 Jul 5 Aug 11 Aug 17 Aug 23 Aug 3 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
64km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 8.2 mm on 10 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 4.6% of the area of London (74 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. Central Kootenay C where it started
    6,536 ha reached on 8 Aug
    8.4 %
  2. Central Kootenay A
    813 ha reached on 30 Jul
    0.4 %

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)
28 Jul 22.7 °C 17 % 21 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 18
29 Jul 26.1 °C 16 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
30 Jul 27.8 °C 11 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
31 Jul 23.2 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
1 Aug 22.8 °C 26 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
2 Aug 21.5 °C 19 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
3 Aug 16.4 °C 32 % 52 km/h 3.7 mm Very low 4
4 Aug 16.5 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
5 Aug 20.8 °C 28 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
6 Aug 21.5 °C 22 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
7 Aug 23.0 °C 21 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
8 Aug 26.0 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
9 Aug 30.3 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
10 Aug 30.6 °C 11 % 47 km/h 0.3 mm High 36
11 Aug 24.0 °C 27 % 64 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 20
12 Aug 13.6 °C 43 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
13 Aug 19.5 °C 29 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
14 Aug 20.9 °C 29 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
15 Aug 23.1 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
16 Aug 23.4 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
17 Aug 20.9 °C 31 % 41 km/h 1.7 mm Low 10
18 Aug 20.2 °C 24 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
19 Aug 18.5 °C 24 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
20 Aug 16.2 °C 34 % 58 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
21 Aug 22.2 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
22 Aug 22.5 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Aug 18.9 °C 28 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
24 Aug 13.9 °C 38 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
25 Aug 13.1 °C 36 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 21
26 Aug 9.8 °C 58 % 30 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 4
27 Aug 11.8 °C 47 % 45 km/h 6.6 mm Very low 0
28 Aug 15.0 °C 39 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
29 Aug 17.0 °C 30 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
30 Aug 14.7 °C 31 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
31 Aug 15.0 °C 27 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
1 Sept 14.6 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
2 Sept 16.0 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
3 Sept 14.2 °C 26 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 19
4 Sept 15.8 °C 28 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
5 Sept 18.9 °C 25 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
6 Sept 21.9 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
7 Sept 20.8 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
8 Sept 15.8 °C 35 % 46 km/h 1.3 mm Low 9
9 Sept 15.4 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
10 Sept after 10.4 °C 54 % 51 km/h 8.2 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 21 Jul 2018
After · 16 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 · 1,473Every 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 Central Kootenay C fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 28 July 2018 to 9 September 2018 (44 days). The perimeter dates it from 28 July 2018 to 8 September 2018.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 7,358 hectares (73.6 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire entered 2 census subdivisions: Central Kootenay C (6,536 ha, 8.4 %); Central Kootenay A (813 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 30.6 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 64 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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 28 July 2018 to 8 September 2018. 1,473 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.