Skip to content
worldfires
CA · Canada · –

Central Kootenay D fire, July 2023 Central Kootenay D

Out · last detection 19 Aug 2023, 09:47 UTC

The fire started on 17 July 2023 in Central Kootenay D, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 84 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 1,916 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 249th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 343 with a page). Number 380 in Canada in 2023, of 489.

Burnt area
1,916ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
84days
17 Jul 2023 – 8 Oct 2023
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
17 Jul
2023
Heat detections
656
in a single hotspot: 214 MW
Danger at start
0
Very low · FWI index
Average daily power
315MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Jul8 Oct
19 Aug 2023

How it evolved, day by day

24 Jul 2023 · 1,091 MW · 33 25 Jul 2023 · 15 MW · 9 26 Jul 2023 · 2 MW · 2 27 Jul 2023 · 9 MW · 7 28 Jul 2023 · 6 MW · 4 29 Jul 2023 · 10 MW · 7 30 Jul 2023 · 27 MW · 12 31 Jul 2023 · 8 MW · 4 1 Aug 2023 · 85 MW · 13 2 Aug 2023 · 2,447 MW · 89 3 Aug 2023 · 996 MW · 153 4 Aug 2023 · 935 MW · 93 5 Aug 2023 · 1,057 MW · 137 6 Aug 2023 · 110 MW · 41 7 Aug 2023 · 96 MW · 29 8 Aug 2023 · 13 MW · 13 14 Aug 2023 · 4 MW · 2 15 Aug 2023 · 7 MW · 2 16 Aug 2023 · 1 MW · 1 17 Aug 2023 · 1 MW · 1 18 Aug 2023 · 1 MW · 1 19 Aug 2023 · 2 MW · 3
24 Jul 29 Jul 2 Aug 8 Aug 18 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
87km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.6 mm on 10 Oct.

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
    1,924 ha reached on 24 Jul
    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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)
17 Jul 21.1 °C 63 % 63 km/h 8.7 mm Very low 0
18 Jul 22.6 °C 45 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
19 Jul 28.3 °C 39 % 22 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 4
20 Jul 30.9 °C 33 % 29 km/h 0.2 mm Low 10
21 Jul 31.6 °C 28 % 38 km/h 1.1 mm Low 10
22 Jul 30.4 °C 26 % 52 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 16
23 Jul 31.3 °C 30 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
24 Jul 31.8 °C 28 % 71 km/h 1.8 mm Moderate 13
25 Jul 20.9 °C 49 % 73 km/h 7.1 mm Very low 1
26 Jul 19.7 °C 50 % 44 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 2
27 Jul 22.6 °C 47 % 26 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 2
28 Jul 23.6 °C 63 % 23 km/h 8.8 mm Very low 0
29 Jul 29.5 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 3
30 Jul 29.5 °C 33 % 60 km/h 4.6 mm Very low 2
31 Jul 27.3 °C 33 % 48 km/h 0.2 mm Low 8
1 Aug 28.7 °C 26 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
2 Aug 30.2 °C 25 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
3 Aug 29.0 °C 33 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
4 Aug 31.0 °C 23 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 18
5 Aug 29.5 °C 40 % 27 km/h 1.0 mm Low 10
6 Aug 29.1 °C 42 % 19 km/h 3.3 mm Very low 2
7 Aug 27.3 °C 49 % 31 km/h 1.8 mm Very low 2
8 Aug 22.5 °C 74 % 54 km/h 5.4 mm Very low 0
9 Aug 20.6 °C 72 % 59 km/h 11.7 mm Very low 0
10 Aug 20.6 °C 70 % 60 km/h 3.6 mm Very low 0
11 Aug 22.8 °C 46 % 41 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 1
12 Aug 24.5 °C 45 % 46 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 3
13 Aug 31.0 °C 39 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
14 Aug 32.9 °C 32 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
15 Aug 32.4 °C 34 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
16 Aug 31.6 °C 34 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
17 Aug 33.1 °C 26 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
18 Aug 23.3 °C 49 % 87 km/h 4.0 mm Very low 2
19 Aug 21.4 °C 33 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
20 Aug 25.5 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
21 Aug 25.8 °C 40 % 31 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 11
22 Aug 22.6 °C 69 % 30 km/h 19.2 mm Very low 0
23 Aug 18.0 °C 80 % 62 km/h 8.8 mm Very low 0
24 Aug 20.7 °C 57 % 35 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
25 Aug 27.0 °C 41 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
26 Aug 25.9 °C 40 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
27 Aug 28.9 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
28 Aug 31.4 °C 32 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
29 Aug 32.0 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 14
30 Aug 23.2 °C 60 % 36 km/h 3.0 mm Very low 1
31 Aug 19.1 °C 79 % 32 km/h 11.2 mm Very low 0
1 Sept 24.6 °C 52 % 36 km/h 4.0 mm Very low 0
2 Sept 25.8 °C 47 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
3 Sept 21.8 °C 58 % 60 km/h 14.0 mm Very low 0
4 Sept 18.3 °C 69 % 32 km/h 5.5 mm Very low 0
5 Sept 18.3 °C 78 % 55 km/h 9.9 mm Very low 0
6 Sept 17.0 °C 73 % 45 km/h 5.7 mm Very low 0
7 Sept 20.3 °C 45 % 34 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 0
8 Sept 21.7 °C 43 % 30 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 0
9 Sept 25.4 °C 35 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
10 Sept 26.3 °C 36 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Low 5
11 Sept 25.1 °C 38 % 45 km/h 0.5 mm Low 7
12 Sept 21.1 °C 65 % 46 km/h 3.7 mm Very low 0
13 Sept 20.4 °C 52 % 46 km/h 2.4 mm Very low 0
14 Sept 23.0 °C 38 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
15 Sept 25.7 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
16 Sept 27.0 °C 28 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
17 Sept 22.4 °C 38 % 59 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 11
18 Sept 16.9 °C 59 % 61 km/h 2.8 mm Very low 1
19 Sept 10.2 °C 72 % 31 km/h 3.1 mm Very low 0
20 Sept 15.1 °C 58 % 29 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 0
21 Sept 19.5 °C 44 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
22 Sept 22.4 °C 46 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
23 Sept 16.4 °C 75 % 57 km/h 7.7 mm Very low 0
24 Sept 15.8 °C 66 % 37 km/h 4.6 mm Very low 0
25 Sept 19.5 °C 52 % 60 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 0
26 Sept 16.7 °C 70 % 54 km/h 8.6 mm Very low 0
27 Sept 13.6 °C 64 % 27 km/h 4.3 mm Very low 0
28 Sept 13.0 °C 69 % 40 km/h 6.6 mm Very low 0
29 Sept 12.4 °C 62 % 19 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 0
30 Sept 9.5 °C 80 % 28 km/h 3.3 mm Very low 0
1 Oct 16.0 °C 55 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
2 Oct 14.4 °C 58 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
3 Oct 15.2 °C 63 % 39 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 0
4 Oct 16.2 °C 56 % 52 km/h 2.3 mm Very low 0
5 Oct 15.2 °C 61 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
6 Oct 19.9 °C 50 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
7 Oct 23.0 °C 40 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
8 Oct 23.6 °C 43 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
9 Oct after 23.9 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.3 mm Low 7
10 Oct after 16.8 °C 63 % 54 km/h 3.6 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 0.2, a minimum humidity of 63% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2017: 2.

FWI at the start 0.2
Minimum humidity 63 %
Days without rain 3
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Fraser-Fort George H fire, August 2018
11,394 ha 22 days FWI 0.1 Min. humidity 63 % 211 km away, in 2018

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 20.3 mm on 24 Aug.

What happened to them

Fires in the area that started in similar weather: 2. With fewer than 15 we give no figures: they would be more noise than signal.

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

3.6 mmfirst rain
10 Oct2 days after it ended
87km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 8 Oct, and on 10 Oct 3.6 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out.

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 2017.
  • 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 · 10 Jul 2023
After · 15 Oct 2023

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 6 August 2023 the air beside the fire reached 125 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 90: 6.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak125 µg/m³
Days over the guideline15 days
PM10179 µg/m³
Optical depth2.99
15 Jul2 Aug20 Aug7 Sept25 Sept
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 656Every 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?
It burned between 17 July 2023 and 8 October 2023: 84 days, according to the dates recorded by Canada’s CWFIS and the heat detections seen by satellite.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 1,916 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 (1,924 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.1 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 87 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 19, class Moderate.
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.

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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 656 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 2025, 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.