How long did the Chase fire last?

The official perimeter only gives the start date (17 March 2016). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 23 April 2016 (45 days from 10 March 2016), the last day with detections before more than 10 days in a row without any, so it is approximate.

How much area did it burn?

The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 25,533 hectares (255.3 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.

Which counties burned?

The fire entered 3 counties: Chase (14,743 ha, 7.3 %); Lyon (6,702 ha, 3.0 %); Greenwood (4,035 ha, 1.4 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 28.4 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 91 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very high.

Where does this data come from?

From the official burnt perimeter of United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC, public domain), NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of United States. It is not an official report.

US · United States · 2016-03-10 → 2016-04-23

Chase fire, March 2016 Chase, Lyon, Greenwood

Out · last detection 23 Apr 2016, 18:27 UTC

The fire started on 10 March 2016 in Chase, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 45 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 25,533 hectares, spread across 3 counties.

It is the 5th largest in Kansas since 2016 (of 84 with a page). Number 6 in United States in 2016, of 475.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Chase · 2022 Nickel Creek · 2018 190 And Yy Rd · 2018 Chase · 2016

Burnt area: 25,533ha; official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration: ≈ 45days; 10 Mar 2016 – 23 Apr 2016
Counties hit: 3; counties
Started on: 10 Mar; 2016
Heat detections: 435; in a single hotspot: 121 MW
Danger at start: 4; Very low · FWI index
Average daily power: 381MW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Mar23 Apr

Play back 23 Apr 2016

How it evolved, day by day

10 Mar 17 Mar 29 Mar 4 Apr 9 Apr 14 Apr

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

91km/h · peak gust

7%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.7 mm on 24 Apr.

This area had burned before

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

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 16% of the area of London (255 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 county

Chase where it started

14,743 ha reached on 10 Mar

7.3 %
Lyon

6,702 ha reached on 17 Mar

3.0 %
Greenwood

4,035 ha reached on 10 Mar

1.4 %

Burnt area inside each county, 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 2015

Built-up area2.4 ha

Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 2.4 hectares of built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2015, 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)
10 Mar	19.5 °C	28 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
11 Mar	20.3 °C	26 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
12 Mar	17.0 °C	65 %	35 km/h	5.3 mm	Very low 0
13 Mar	18.3 °C	71 %	23 km/h	5.7 mm	Very low 0
14 Mar	24.9 °C	38 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 1
15 Mar	17.6 °C	25 %	62 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
16 Mar	15.1 °C	19 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 11
17 Mar	17.6 °C	17 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
18 Mar	8.9 °C	34 %	45 km/h	3.2 mm	Very low 1
19 Mar	6.6 °C	32 %	61 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
20 Mar	9.2 °C	33 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
21 Mar	20.0 °C	22 %	66 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
22 Mar	24.5 °C	23 %	65 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
23 Mar	26.2 °C	7 %	83 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
24 Mar	11.0 °C	30 %	64 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
25 Mar	16.2 °C	25 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
26 Mar	14.3 °C	44 %	42 km/h	2.9 mm	Very low 2
27 Mar	11.1 °C	27 %	41 km/h	13.8 mm	Very low 0
28 Mar	18.6 °C	22 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 3
29 Mar	19.5 °C	33 %	60 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
30 Mar	23.9 °C	43 %	56 km/h	0.4 mm	Moderate 12
31 Mar	16.0 °C	32 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 11
1 Apr	11.6 °C	30 %	55 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
2 Apr	20.2 °C	20 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
3 Apr	26.7 °C	14 %	57 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
4 Apr	22.7 °C	20 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
5 Apr	28.4 °C	21 %	91 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
6 Apr	18.9 °C	23 %	74 km/h	0.3 mm	High 37
7 Apr	20.9 °C	14 %	72 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
8 Apr	20.2 °C	18 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
9 Apr	21.5 °C	25 %	56 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
10 Apr	26.5 °C	29 %	57 km/h	0.2 mm	High 31
11 Apr	15.6 °C	21 %	51 km/h	1.5 mm	Moderate 13
12 Apr	18.5 °C	17 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
13 Apr	21.2 °C	34 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
14 Apr	22.4 °C	33 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
15 Apr	24.2 °C	36 %	56 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
16 Apr	20.9 °C	67 %	63 km/h	1.1 mm	Moderate 12
17 Apr	18.7 °C	74 %	53 km/h	17.1 mm	Very low 0
18 Apr	17.1 °C	68 %	43 km/h	17.2 mm	Very low 0
19 Apr	17.8 °C	58 %	27 km/h	3.0 mm	Very low 0
20 Apr	19.3 °C	42 %	38 km/h	9.0 mm	Very low 0
21 Apr	21.0 °C	44 %	48 km/h	0.3 mm	Very low 2
22 Apr	21.7 °C	42 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
23 Apr	26.5 °C	36 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
24 Apr after	26.7 °C	45 %	77 km/h	7.7 mm	Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 3 Mar 2016

After · 30 Apr 2016

Before After

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 · 435Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in United States ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Chase fire last?: The official perimeter only gives the start date (17 March 2016). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 23 April 2016 (45 days from 10 March 2016), the last day with detections before more than 10 days in a row without any, so it is approximate.
How much area did it burn?: The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 25,533 hectares (255.3 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?: The fire entered 3 counties: Chase (14,743 ha, 7.3 %); Lyon (6,702 ha, 3.0 %); Greenwood (4,035 ha, 1.4 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 28.4 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 91 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?: From the official burnt perimeter of United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC, public domain), NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of United States. 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
NIFC · Fire maps ↗

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.

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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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What really happened?

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How we know this

Perimeter: MTBS (US Geological Survey and US Forest Service), official.
The official perimeter has no end date: the end is the last day with VIIRS detections inside the perimeter before a gap of more than 10 days (150 days at most), so it is approximate. 435 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 2015, 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 and in the public domain. For past years it comes from MTBS (Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity), run by the U.S. Geological Survey and the USDA Forest Service, which map it on Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery. For the current and last year it comes from WFIGS at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC): incident perimeters mapped by fire crews, aircraft and imagery. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. County boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Public Domain). The area per county is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from official figures.

Where it burned