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Chetco Bar Fire, July 2017 Curry, Josephine

Out · last detection 17 Sept 2017, 10:26 UTC

The fire started on 12 July 2017 in Curry, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 68 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 78,817 hectares, spread across 2 counties.

It is the 6th largest in Oregon since 2016 (of 327 with a page). Number 6 in United States in 2017, of 619.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Flat · 2023Corral · 2023Kelly · 2023

Burnt area
78,817ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
≈ 68days
12 Jul 2017 – 17 Sept 2017
Counties hit
2
counties
Started on
12 Jul
2017
Heat detections
7,990
in a single hotspot: 850 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Average daily power
2.1GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Jul17 Sept
17 Sept 2017

How it evolved, day by day

16 Jul 2017 · 17 MW · 2 17 Jul 2017 · 3 MW · 2 18 Jul 2017 · 5 MW · 1 19 Jul 2017 · 5 MW · 1 20 Jul 2017 · 69 MW · 4 21 Jul 2017 · 6 MW · 2 22 Jul 2017 · 51 MW · 11 23 Jul 2017 · 60 MW · 20 24 Jul 2017 · 115 MW · 13 25 Jul 2017 · 27 MW · 6 26 Jul 2017 · 17 MW · 6 27 Jul 2017 · 6 MW · 4 28 Jul 2017 · 12 MW · 9 29 Jul 2017 · 72 MW · 5 30 Jul 2017 · 623 MW · 33 31 Jul 2017 · 87 MW · 17 1 Aug 2017 · 115 MW · 14 2 Aug 2017 · 444 MW · 45 3 Aug 2017 · 546 MW · 35 4 Aug 2017 · 51 MW · 20 5 Aug 2017 · 14 MW · 9 6 Aug 2017 · 289 MW · 25 7 Aug 2017 · 48 MW · 8 8 Aug 2017 · 22 MW · 7 9 Aug 2017 · 214 MW · 10 10 Aug 2017 · 111 MW · 13 11 Aug 2017 · 105 MW · 13 12 Aug 2017 · 530 MW · 16 13 Aug 2017 · 7 MW · 4 14 Aug 2017 · 142 MW · 23 15 Aug 2017 · 108 MW · 22 16 Aug 2017 · 674 MW · 32 17 Aug 2017 · 1,424 MW · 93 18 Aug 2017 · 13,888 MW · 502 19 Aug 2017 · 8,106 MW · 375 20 Aug 2017 · 29,100 MW · 943 21 Aug 2017 · 4,444 MW · 554 22 Aug 2017 · 977 MW · 218 23 Aug 2017 · 553 MW · 86 24 Aug 2017 · 825 MW · 111 25 Aug 2017 · 1,046 MW · 140 26 Aug 2017 · 3,158 MW · 177 27 Aug 2017 · 9,907 MW · 278 28 Aug 2017 · 7,553 MW · 362 29 Aug 2017 · 2,190 MW · 319 30 Aug 2017 · 1,847 MW · 252 31 Aug 2017 · 3,172 MW · 282 1 Sept 2017 · 5,022 MW · 404 2 Sept 2017 · 8,507 MW · 434 3 Sept 2017 · 2,289 MW · 320 4 Sept 2017 · 18,566 MW · 938 5 Sept 2017 · 3,832 MW · 478 6 Sept 2017 · 509 MW · 58 7 Sept 2017 · 66 MW · 38 8 Sept 2017 · 1 MW · 1 9 Sept 2017 · 1 MW · 2 10 Sept 2017 · 37 MW · 8 11 Sept 2017 · 669 MW · 55 12 Sept 2017 · 110 MW · 35 13 Sept 2017 · 275 MW · 49 14 Sept 2017 · 142 MW · 18 15 Sept 2017 · 98 MW · 24 16 Sept 2017 · 6 MW · 2 17 Sept 2017 · 1 MW · 2
16 Jul 26 Jul 5 Aug 15 Aug 20 Aug 25 Aug 4 Sept 14 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

40°high
57km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 26 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.5 mm on 18 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 50% of the area of London (788 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

  1. Curry where it started
    74,913 ha reached on 16 Jul
    18 %
  2. Josephine
    3,678 ha reached on 17 Aug
    0.9 %

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 area4.8 ha
Residents≈ 50

Inside the perimeter there were about 4.8 hectares of built-up land and about 50 residents (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)
12 Jul 30.6 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
13 Jul 26.5 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Jul 29.0 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
15 Jul 27.8 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
16 Jul 28.7 °C 18 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Jul 27.9 °C 18 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
18 Jul 24.5 °C 36 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
19 Jul 23.2 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
20 Jul 24.3 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
21 Jul 26.8 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
22 Jul 33.0 °C 16 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
23 Jul 33.5 °C 25 % 53 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 45
24 Jul 32.4 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Jul 32.4 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
26 Jul 30.0 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.3 mm High 35
27 Jul 27.9 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Jul 28.7 °C 26 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
29 Jul 32.2 °C 18 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
30 Jul 33.7 °C 15 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
31 Jul 36.4 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Aug 40.0 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
2 Aug 35.4 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
3 Aug 34.2 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
4 Aug 30.8 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
5 Aug 27.0 °C 29 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
6 Aug 26.8 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Aug 30.4 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.2 mm High 32
8 Aug 29.3 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
9 Aug 28.4 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
10 Aug 26.6 °C 42 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
11 Aug 25.6 °C 40 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
12 Aug 24.5 °C 38 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
13 Aug 26.2 °C 44 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Aug 26.5 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
15 Aug 27.8 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Aug 31.3 °C 18 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
17 Aug 33.2 °C 15 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
18 Aug 32.0 °C 13 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
19 Aug 28.3 °C 22 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
20 Aug 29.8 °C 17 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
21 Aug 28.7 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
22 Aug 25.4 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
23 Aug 26.1 °C 39 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
24 Aug 26.1 °C 37 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Aug 29.6 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
26 Aug 34.0 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Aug 32.2 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Aug 30.9 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
29 Aug 26.7 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
30 Aug 26.2 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
31 Aug 32.0 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
1 Sept 39.2 °C 10 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
2 Sept 38.1 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
3 Sept 36.0 °C 12 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
4 Sept 36.3 °C 13 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
5 Sept 30.3 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
6 Sept 25.1 °C 52 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
7 Sept 20.0 °C 79 % 31 km/h 5.0 mm Very low 0
8 Sept 23.9 °C 55 % 27 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 5
9 Sept 25.4 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
10 Sept 30.1 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Sept 36.0 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
12 Sept 31.7 °C 20 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
13 Sept 27.9 °C 26 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
14 Sept 21.1 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
15 Sept 25.6 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Sept 22.6 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
17 Sept 18.9 °C 41 % 40 km/h 2.0 mm Low 9
18 Sept after 14.3 °C 60 % 51 km/h 6.5 mm Very low 1

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Jul 2017
After · 24 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 · 7,990Every 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 United States ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Chetco Bar Fire last?
The official perimeter only gives the start date (12 July 2017). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 17 September 2017 (68 days from 12 July 2017), 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 78,817 hectares (788.2 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire entered 2 counties: Curry (74,913 ha, 18 %); Josephine (3,678 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 40.0 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 57 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 56, class Extreme.
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

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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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. 7,990 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.