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Chimney Fire, August 2016 San Luis Obispo, Monterey

Out · last detection 14 Aug 2016, 21:29 UTC

The fire started on 13 August 2016 in San Luis Obispo, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 18,999 hectares, spread across 2 counties.

It is the 59th largest in California since 2016 (of 442 with a page). Number 13 in United States in 2016, of 475.

Burnt area
18,999ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
1day
13 Aug 2016 – 13 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
13 Aug
2016
Heat detections
1,704
in a single hotspot: 574 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Energy released
4.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Aug13 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

14

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
32km/h · peak gust
25%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. San Luis Obispo where it started
    17,232 ha reached on 14 Aug
    2.0 %
  2. Monterey
    1,862 ha reached on 22 Aug
    0.2 %

Burnt area inside each county, 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)
13 Aug 29.2 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
14 Aug after 29.0 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
15 Aug after 26.0 °C 38 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
16 Aug after 24.2 °C 43 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
17 Aug after 24.3 °C 51 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
18 Aug after 23.4 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
19 Aug after 23.0 °C 49 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
20 Aug after 23.5 °C 45 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
21 Aug after 24.1 °C 52 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
22 Aug after 24.6 °C 52 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
23 Aug after 24.0 °C 53 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
24 Aug after 25.1 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
25 Aug after 22.4 °C 53 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
26 Aug after 21.6 °C 55 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
27 Aug after 22.6 °C 54 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
28 Aug after 26.4 °C 46 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
29 Aug after 30.3 °C 34 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
30 Aug after 30.9 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
31 Aug after 27.9 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
1 Sept after 26.5 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
2 Sept after 25.4 °C 43 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
3 Sept after 23.5 °C 45 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
4 Sept after 21.8 °C 44 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
5 Sept after 23.6 °C 40 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
6 Sept after 27.7 °C 26 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
7 Sept after 25.7 °C 39 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
8 Sept after 22.5 °C 58 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
9 Sept after 22.9 °C 56 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 6 Aug 2016
After · 20 Aug 2016

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 · 1,704Every 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 Chimney fire last?
It burned between 13 August 2016 and 13 August 2016: 1 day, according to the start date recorded by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) and the heat detections seen by satellite.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 18,999 hectares (190.0 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire entered 2 counties: San Luis Obispo (17,232 ha, 2.0 %); Monterey (1,862 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 30.9 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, class 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

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.

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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.