Skip to content
worldfires
CA · Canada · →

Central Kootenay E fire, July 2017 Central Kootenay E

Out · last detection 9 Sept 2017, 11:14 UTC

The fire started on 10 July 2017 in Central Kootenay E, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 61 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 2,284 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 279th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 448 with a page). Number 144 in Canada in 2017, of 242.

Burnt area
2,284ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
61days
10 Jul 2017 – 8 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
10 Jul
2017
Heat detections
631
in a single hotspot: 303 MW
Danger at start
4
Very low · FWI index
Energy released
5.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

9 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Jul8 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

282930311234567891011121325262728293031123456789

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

28°high
62km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

It had gone 18 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 12 Sept.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Central Kootenay E where it started
    2,280 ha reached on 28 Jul
    2.6 %

Burnt area inside each census subdivision, 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)
10 Jul 22.4 °C 26 % 43 km/h 3.1 mm Very low 4
11 Jul 16.2 °C 47 % 26 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 2
12 Jul 22.1 °C 22 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
13 Jul 23.7 °C 19 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
14 Jul 25.9 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
15 Jul 25.1 °C 22 % 57 km/h 0.1 mm High 26
16 Jul 16.8 °C 18 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
17 Jul 17.6 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
18 Jul 20.7 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
19 Jul 22.9 °C 18 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
20 Jul 19.8 °C 24 % 60 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 20
21 Jul 17.9 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
22 Jul 21.7 °C 32 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
23 Jul 24.6 °C 24 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
24 Jul 19.2 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
25 Jul 23.1 °C 13 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
26 Jul 26.1 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
27 Jul 25.6 °C 18 % 55 km/h 0.3 mm High 36
28 Jul 25.2 °C 11 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
29 Jul 27.1 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
30 Jul 26.0 °C 11 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
31 Jul 27.1 °C 7 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
1 Aug 26.7 °C 11 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
2 Aug 24.7 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Aug 27.5 °C 8 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
4 Aug 25.5 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
5 Aug 22.5 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
6 Aug 26.3 °C 8 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
7 Aug 25.2 °C 12 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
8 Aug 25.5 °C 15 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
9 Aug 26.0 °C 12 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
10 Aug 26.2 °C 10 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
11 Aug 28.1 °C 9 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
12 Aug 26.2 °C 13 % 55 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 44
13 Aug 15.4 °C 52 % 44 km/h 11.9 mm Very low 0
14 Aug 13.4 °C 44 % 36 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 1
15 Aug 17.8 °C 26 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Low 5
16 Aug 20.3 °C 27 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
17 Aug 21.7 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
18 Aug 22.5 °C 20 % 61 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
19 Aug 17.3 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
20 Aug 16.6 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
21 Aug 20.1 °C 27 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
22 Aug 24.9 °C 22 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
23 Aug 23.7 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
24 Aug 21.3 °C 18 % 62 km/h 0.2 mm High 31
25 Aug 16.7 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
26 Aug 21.3 °C 19 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
27 Aug 25.3 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
28 Aug 26.0 °C 12 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Aug 26.7 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
30 Aug 25.6 °C 15 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
31 Aug 21.7 °C 15 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
1 Sept 23.0 °C 19 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
2 Sept 25.8 °C 16 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
3 Sept 25.5 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Sept 23.2 °C 22 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
5 Sept 22.4 °C 20 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
6 Sept 24.6 °C 20 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
7 Sept 25.5 °C 19 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
8 Sept 20.8 °C 32 % 50 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
9 Sept after 17.4 °C 46 % 56 km/h 1.2 mm Moderate 13
10 Sept after 15.9 °C 25 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
11 Sept after 21.2 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
12 Sept after 20.2 °C 24 % 58 km/h 1.0 mm High 22

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 3 Jul 2017
After · 15 Sept 2017

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 · 631Every 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 E fire last?
It burned between 10 July 2017 and 8 September 2017: 61 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 2,284 hectares (22.8 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Central Kootenay E (2,280 ha, 2.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.1 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 62 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, 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.

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.

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.

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.