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Central Kootenay D fire, July 2022 Central Kootenay D

Out · last detection 21 Aug 2022, 09:53 UTC

The fire started on 1 July 2022 in Central Kootenay D, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 52 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 1,924 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 308th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 449 with a page). Number 130 in Canada in 2022, of 197.

The power measured by the satellite is low (29.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Central Kootenay D · 2020Central Kootenay H · 2018Central Kootenay H · 2021Central Kootenay H · 2024

Burnt area
1,924ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
52days
1 Jul 2022 – 21 Aug 2022
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
1 Jul
2022
Heat detections
105
in a single hotspot: 30 MW
Danger at start
0
Very low · FWI index
Average daily power
34MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 1 Jul21 Aug
21 Aug 2022

How it evolved, day by day

11 Aug 2022 · 7 MW · 3 12 Aug 2022 · 23 MW · 6 13 Aug 2022 · 12 MW · 4 14 Aug 2022 · 31 MW · 9 15 Aug 2022 · 34 MW · 14 16 Aug 2022 · 54 MW · 9 17 Aug 2022 · 54 MW · 16 18 Aug 2022 · 72 MW · 25 19 Aug 2022 · 48 MW · 17 21 Aug 2022 · 1 MW · 2
11 Aug 13 Aug 15 Aug 17 Aug 18 Aug 19 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

33°high
60km/h · peak gust
6%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.2 mm on 20 Aug.

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 1.2% of the area of London (19 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
    1,903 ha reached on 11 Aug
    0.3 %

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)
1 Jul 20.4 °C 40 % 25 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 0
2 Jul 21.9 °C 33 % 23 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 3
3 Jul 15.7 °C 73 % 41 km/h 16.2 mm Very low 0
4 Jul 17.0 °C 64 % 30 km/h 12.9 mm Very low 0
5 Jul 16.5 °C 52 % 36 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 0
6 Jul 17.5 °C 63 % 32 km/h 2.5 mm Very low 0
7 Jul 22.0 °C 48 % 42 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 0
8 Jul 19.6 °C 46 % 46 km/h 3.0 mm Very low 0
9 Jul 20.3 °C 37 % 43 km/h 2.5 mm Very low 0
10 Jul 17.5 °C 50 % 37 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 1
11 Jul 24.3 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
12 Jul 27.1 °C 25 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
13 Jul 23.9 °C 27 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
14 Jul 25.4 °C 28 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
15 Jul 26.9 °C 26 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
16 Jul 25.1 °C 32 % 49 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 13
17 Jul 24.8 °C 29 % 52 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 14
18 Jul 18.4 °C 54 % 44 km/h 3.3 mm Very low 1
19 Jul 24.6 °C 26 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
20 Jul 25.9 °C 29 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
21 Jul 27.1 °C 25 % 41 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 14
22 Jul 24.0 °C 28 % 29 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 4
23 Jul 24.6 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.9 mm Low 8
24 Jul 26.2 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
25 Jul 26.7 °C 28 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
26 Jul 29.0 °C 24 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
27 Jul 32.4 °C 18 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm High 22
28 Jul 31.8 °C 19 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
29 Jul 29.5 °C 20 % 36 km/h 1.8 mm Moderate 13
30 Jul 30.8 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
31 Jul 32.7 °C 6 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
1 Aug 29.6 °C 16 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
2 Aug 25.1 °C 23 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
3 Aug 25.1 °C 24 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
4 Aug 17.5 °C 35 % 44 km/h 13.8 mm Very low 0
5 Aug 19.6 °C 29 % 25 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 3
6 Aug 22.9 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
7 Aug 26.6 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
8 Aug 28.8 °C 20 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
9 Aug 30.1 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
10 Aug 25.5 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
11 Aug 29.5 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
12 Aug 28.9 °C 18 % 36 km/h 1.6 mm Moderate 15
13 Aug 25.1 °C 21 % 60 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
14 Aug 25.4 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
15 Aug 26.3 °C 24 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
16 Aug 27.8 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
17 Aug 30.8 °C 14 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Aug 32.8 °C 11 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Aug 31.8 °C 19 % 28 km/h 1.2 mm High 22
20 Aug 26.6 °C 31 % 28 km/h 2.2 mm Low 7

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Jun 2022
After · 28 Aug 2022

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 · 105Every 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 1 July 2022 to 21 August 2022 (52 days). The perimeter dates it from 1 July 2022 to 19 August 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 1,924 hectares (19.2 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 (1,903 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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.

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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 1 July 2022 to 19 August 2022. 105 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.