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Central Kootenay D fire, July 2020 Central Kootenay D

Out · last detection 13 Sept 2020, 10:49 UTC

The fire started on 16 July 2020 in Central Kootenay D, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 60 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 1,160 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 316th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 343 with a page). Number 31 in Canada in 2020, of 31.

Burnt area
1,160ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
60days
16 Jul 2020 – 13 Sept 2020
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
16 Jul
2020
Heat detections
251
in a single hotspot: 108 MW
Danger at start
10
Low · FWI index
Average daily power
94MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Jul13 Sept
13 Sept 2020

How it evolved, day by day

16 Aug 2020 · 172 MW · 7 17 Aug 2020 · 22 MW · 3 18 Aug 2020 · 68 MW · 12 19 Aug 2020 · 995 MW · 72 21 Aug 2020 · 2 MW · 2 23 Aug 2020 · 4 MW · 1 24 Aug 2020 · 1 MW · 1 26 Aug 2020 · 26 MW · 2 27 Aug 2020 · 14 MW · 3 28 Aug 2020 · 37 MW · 6 29 Aug 2020 · 5 MW · 4 30 Aug 2020 · 216 MW · 20 1 Sept 2020 · 4 MW · 1 2 Sept 2020 · 5 MW · 2 4 Sept 2020 · 38 MW · 5 5 Sept 2020 · 281 MW · 25 6 Sept 2020 · 86 MW · 21 7 Sept 2020 · 42 MW · 24 8 Sept 2020 · 3 MW · 1 9 Sept 2020 · 8 MW · 4 10 Sept 2020 · 26 MW · 9 11 Sept 2020 · 74 MW · 8 12 Sept 2020 · 120 MW · 12 13 Sept 2020 · 13 MW · 6
19 Aug 29 Aug 5 Sept 10 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
68km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.4 mm on 19 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 0.7% of the area of London (12 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 D where it started
    1,145 ha reached on 16 Aug
    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 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)

Started with Strong wind: 15 % of the area in Canada

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
16 Jul 21.7 °C 42 % 53 km/h 2.7 mm Low 10
17 Jul 18.3 °C 44 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
18 Jul 20.0 °C 36 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
19 Jul 19.5 °C 43 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
20 Jul 22.8 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
21 Jul 25.3 °C 32 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
22 Jul 24.7 °C 33 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
23 Jul 21.2 °C 33 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
24 Jul 16.4 °C 42 % 50 km/h 3.4 mm Moderate 16
25 Jul 18.4 °C 37 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
26 Jul 23.8 °C 28 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
27 Jul 28.5 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
28 Jul 28.5 °C 20 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
29 Jul 27.9 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
30 Jul 29.9 °C 15 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
31 Jul 30.9 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.7 mm High 33
1 Aug 28.9 °C 28 % 34 km/h 1.6 mm High 24
2 Aug 27.3 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
3 Aug 22.1 °C 39 % 48 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 20
4 Aug 24.8 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
5 Aug 27.1 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
6 Aug 16.6 °C 58 % 51 km/h 22.7 mm Very low 1
7 Aug 16.1 °C 38 % 45 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 0
8 Aug 15.6 °C 53 % 39 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 2
9 Aug 16.9 °C 32 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
10 Aug 21.8 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
11 Aug 23.0 °C 19 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
12 Aug 17.8 °C 25 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
13 Aug 17.2 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
14 Aug 21.0 °C 28 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
15 Aug 26.0 °C 25 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
16 Aug 29.1 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
17 Aug 27.9 °C 24 % 45 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
18 Aug 28.1 °C 20 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 Aug 26.0 °C 18 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
20 Aug 21.1 °C 29 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
21 Aug 22.0 °C 36 % 61 km/h 0.4 mm High 31
22 Aug 19.9 °C 24 % 49 km/h 3.9 mm Very low 4
23 Aug 22.9 °C 19 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
24 Aug 23.5 °C 25 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
25 Aug 20.8 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.5 mm High 25
26 Aug 21.9 °C 21 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
27 Aug 21.2 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
28 Aug 23.7 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
29 Aug 18.6 °C 27 % 54 km/h 0.1 mm High 31
30 Aug 15.6 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
31 Aug 12.9 °C 45 % 46 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 21
1 Sept 20.2 °C 38 % 68 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
2 Sept 18.7 °C 37 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
3 Sept 22.6 °C 29 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
4 Sept 26.6 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
5 Sept 26.1 °C 18 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
6 Sept 23.4 °C 30 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
7 Sept 12.4 °C 23 % 63 km/h 6.0 mm Very low 4
8 Sept 16.1 °C 28 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
9 Sept 21.3 °C 23 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
10 Sept 23.6 °C 17 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
11 Sept 25.1 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
12 Sept 22.6 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
13 Sept 19.2 °C 35 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
14 Sept after 17.2 °C 34 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
15 Sept after 19.5 °C 33 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
16 Sept after 21.0 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 18
17 Sept after 22.0 °C 23 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
18 Sept after 21.6 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
19 Sept after 13.5 °C 61 % 36 km/h 6.4 mm Low 7

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 9.5, a minimum humidity of 42% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 17.

FWI at the start 9.5
Minimum humidity 42 %
Days without rain 3
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Silver Fire, August 2026
1,050 ha 7 days FWI 4.8 Min. humidity 40 % 134 km away, in 2026

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.1 mm on 30 Aug.

What happened to them

39 days
median duration
1,850 ha
median area
94 %
went past 1,000 ha
5.9 mm
rain at the end (median; 17 of 17 had it)

It stayed below its twins: 1,160 ha against a median of 1,850 ha. It lasted 60 days, against 39 days.

All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 5.9 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

6.4 mmfirst rain
19 Sept6 days after it ended
68km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 13 Sept, and on 19 Sept 6.4 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 17 of 17, with a median of 5.9 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 2016.
  • 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 · 9 Jul 2020
After · 20 Sept 2020

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 · 251Every 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 D fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 16 July 2020 to 13 September 2020 (60 days). The perimeter dates it from 16 July 2020 to 12 September 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 1,160 hectares (11.6 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Central Kootenay D (1,145 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 30.9 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 68 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very 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 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 17. Their median duration was 39 days and their median area 1,850 ha; 94 % went past 1,000 ha. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 5.9 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 adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 16 July 2020 to 12 September 2020. 251 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.