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Columbia-Shuswap A fire, June 2017 Columbia-Shuswap A

Out · last detection 11 Aug 2017, 20:05 UTC

The fire started on 20 June 2017 in Columbia-Shuswap A, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 53 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 2,204 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 230th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 343 with a page). Number 151 in Canada in 2017, of 242.

Compare with…
Burnt area
2,204ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
53days
20 Jun 2017 – 11 Aug 2017
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
20 Jun
2017
Heat detections
128
in a single hotspot: 67 MW
Danger at start
0
Very low · FWI index
Average daily power
126MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Jun11 Aug
11 Aug 2017

How it evolved, day by day

15 Jul 2017 · 732 MW · 50 16 Jul 2017 · 351 MW · 33 18 Jul 2017 · 11 MW · 6 19 Jul 2017 · 244 MW · 8 20 Jul 2017 · 3 MW · 2 3 Aug 2017 · 1 MW · 1 4 Aug 2017 · 3 MW · 1 5 Aug 2017 · 5 MW · 1 6 Aug 2017 · 22 MW · 4 8 Aug 2017 · 44 MW · 15 9 Aug 2017 · 13 MW · 5 11 Aug 2017 · 77 MW · 2
15 Jul 19 Jul 4 Aug 8 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

31°high
72km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.9 mm on 13 Aug.

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 1.4% of the area of London (22 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. Columbia-Shuswap A where it started
    2,236 ha reached on 15 Jul
    0.2 %

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 2015
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable 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)

Started with Strong wind: 15 % of the area in Canada

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
20 Jun 17.4 °C 70 % 71 km/h 17.6 mm Very low 0
21 Jun 12.0 °C 45 % 60 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 0
22 Jun 14.0 °C 53 % 35 km/h 1.1 mm Very low 0
23 Jun 19.2 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
24 Jun 21.7 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
25 Jun 27.1 °C 25 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
26 Jun 25.0 °C 25 % 72 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 12
27 Jun 15.6 °C 41 % 55 km/h 0.5 mm Low 6
28 Jun 14.4 °C 58 % 45 km/h 7.6 mm Very low 0
29 Jun 20.5 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
30 Jun 25.0 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
1 Jul 23.2 °C 45 % 45 km/h 2.4 mm Very low 5
2 Jul 24.5 °C 33 % 55 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 3
3 Jul 17.9 °C 42 % 57 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 3
4 Jul 22.0 °C 29 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
5 Jul 25.8 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
6 Jul 28.5 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
7 Jul 28.9 °C 20 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
8 Jul 26.5 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
9 Jul 26.0 °C 20 % 51 km/h 0.3 mm High 24
10 Jul 21.9 °C 41 % 38 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 17
11 Jul 21.1 °C 31 % 29 km/h 0.2 mm Low 8
12 Jul 22.2 °C 42 % 46 km/h 0.2 mm Low 10
13 Jul 22.3 °C 30 % 60 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
14 Jul 26.7 °C 10 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
15 Jul 26.8 °C 16 % 70 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
16 Jul 15.5 °C 37 % 65 km/h 8.1 mm Very low 1
17 Jul 16.0 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
18 Jul 20.6 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
19 Jul 22.2 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
20 Jul 18.3 °C 47 % 47 km/h 7.2 mm Very low 5
21 Jul 15.7 °C 59 % 33 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
22 Jul 18.2 °C 54 % 42 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 2
23 Jul 18.7 °C 70 % 63 km/h 18.1 mm Very low 0
24 Jul 17.0 °C 40 % 32 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 0
25 Jul 22.5 °C 30 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
26 Jul 26.2 °C 21 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
27 Jul 22.7 °C 36 % 55 km/h 1.9 mm Low 11
28 Jul 22.6 °C 36 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
29 Jul 26.7 °C 23 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
30 Jul 22.1 °C 36 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
31 Jul 24.9 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
1 Aug 21.3 °C 41 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
2 Aug 26.5 °C 12 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
3 Aug 27.0 °C 19 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
4 Aug 20.3 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
5 Aug 25.2 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
6 Aug 27.1 °C 14 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
7 Aug 26.1 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 19
8 Aug 27.0 °C 13 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
9 Aug 27.7 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 19
10 Aug 29.4 °C 14 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
11 Aug 30.7 °C 10 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
12 Aug after 30.4 °C 13 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
13 Aug after 23.0 °C 29 % 44 km/h 5.9 mm Low 10

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 0.0, a minimum humidity of 70% and rain the day before. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2018: 2.

FWI at the start 0.0
Minimum humidity 70 %
Days without rain 0
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 0.3 Min. humidity 67 % 13 km away, in 2018

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 19.4 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

5.9 mmfirst rain
13 Aug2 days after it ended
72km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 11 Aug, and on 13 Aug 5.9 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 2018.
  • 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 · 13 Jun 2017
After · 18 Aug 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 · 128Every 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 Columbia-Shuswap A fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 June 2017 to 11 August 2017 (53 days). The perimeter dates it from 20 June 2017 to 8 August 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 2,204 hectares (22.0 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Columbia-Shuswap A (2,236 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 30.7 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 72 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, class 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 · 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 adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 20 June 2017 to 8 August 2017. 128 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: 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.