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Columbia-Shuswap A fire, 10 July 2017 Columbia-Shuswap A

Out · last detection 8 Sept 2017, 09:52 UTC

The fire started on 10 July 2017 in Columbia-Shuswap A, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 61 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 1,490 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 278th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 343 with a page). Number 194 in Canada in 2017, of 242.

Burnt area
1,490ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
61days
10 Jul 2017 – 8 Sept 2017
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
10 Jul
2017
Heat detections
390
in a single hotspot: 130 MW
Danger at start
30
High · FWI index
Average daily power
90MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Jul8 Sept
8 Sept 2017

How it evolved, day by day

11 Jul 2017 · 29 MW · 7 12 Jul 2017 · 9 MW · 3 13 Jul 2017 · 148 MW · 13 14 Jul 2017 · 773 MW · 44 15 Jul 2017 · 692 MW · 81 16 Jul 2017 · 39 MW · 25 17 Jul 2017 · 8 MW · 4 18 Jul 2017 · 1 MW · 2 19 Jul 2017 · 4 MW · 2 20 Jul 2017 · 4 MW · 2 25 Jul 2017 · 7 MW · 3 27 Jul 2017 · 2 MW · 2 28 Jul 2017 · 1 MW · 1 29 Jul 2017 · 21 MW · 4 30 Jul 2017 · 973 MW · 12 31 Jul 2017 · 112 MW · 21 1 Aug 2017 · 18 MW · 8 2 Aug 2017 · 63 MW · 13 3 Aug 2017 · 115 MW · 21 4 Aug 2017 · 150 MW · 32 5 Aug 2017 · 34 MW · 11 6 Aug 2017 · 15 MW · 8 7 Aug 2017 · 17 MW · 11 8 Aug 2017 · 10 MW · 4 9 Aug 2017 · 2 MW · 1 10 Aug 2017 · 12 MW · 4 11 Aug 2017 · 29 MW · 11 12 Aug 2017 · 13 MW · 11 23 Aug 2017 · 5 MW · 1 28 Aug 2017 · 47 MW · 3 30 Aug 2017 · 27 MW · 5 31 Aug 2017 · 4 MW · 4 2 Sept 2017 · 2 MW · 2 3 Sept 2017 · 14 MW · 7 4 Sept 2017 · 9 MW · 3 5 Sept 2017 · 4 MW · 2 6 Sept 2017 · 3 MW · 1 8 Sept 2017 · 0 MW · 1
11 Jul 19 Jul 30 Jul 9 Aug 2 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

29°high
71km/h · peak gust
4%lowest humidity

It had gone 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 14.6 mm on 9 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 0.9% of the area of London (15 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
    1,480 ha reached on 11 Jul
    0.1 %

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 area0.34 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.34 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 Jul 22.2 °C 26 % 35 km/h 3.3 mm High 30
11 Jul 17.5 °C 31 % 29 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 3
12 Jul 19.5 °C 40 % 36 km/h 0.3 mm Low 6
13 Jul 20.8 °C 24 % 53 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 20
14 Jul 25.1 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
15 Jul 24.7 °C 14 % 55 km/h 0.2 mm High 34
16 Jul 12.3 °C 37 % 66 km/h 5.3 mm Very low 4
17 Jul 15.0 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
18 Jul 19.1 °C 20 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
19 Jul 20.4 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
20 Jul 16.9 °C 35 % 47 km/h 6.8 mm Very low 5
21 Jul 14.7 °C 43 % 31 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 1
22 Jul 16.0 °C 44 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
23 Jul 19.3 °C 36 % 71 km/h 1.7 mm Moderate 12
24 Jul 13.7 °C 38 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
25 Jul 20.8 °C 22 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
26 Jul 24.9 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
27 Jul 22.9 °C 24 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm High 30
28 Jul 22.4 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
29 Jul 25.8 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
30 Jul 22.5 °C 21 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Jul 24.5 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
1 Aug 22.1 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
2 Aug 24.3 °C 11 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
3 Aug 26.1 °C 8 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
4 Aug 20.1 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Aug 22.1 °C 16 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
6 Aug 25.2 °C 10 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
7 Aug 24.2 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Aug 25.0 °C 12 % 23 km/h 0.3 mm High 36
9 Aug 25.8 °C 11 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
10 Aug 26.7 °C 8 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
11 Aug 28.2 °C 4 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
12 Aug 28.7 °C 6 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
13 Aug 15.3 °C 39 % 43 km/h 3.9 mm Low 6
14 Aug 11.0 °C 45 % 37 km/h 2.3 mm Very low 1
15 Aug 15.4 °C 33 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
16 Aug 18.8 °C 30 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
17 Aug 20.1 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
18 Aug 18.7 °C 34 % 61 km/h 1.4 mm High 30
19 Aug 14.4 °C 23 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
20 Aug 14.3 °C 38 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
21 Aug 17.2 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
22 Aug 24.3 °C 24 % 24 km/h 0.1 mm High 24
23 Aug 23.1 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
24 Aug 16.5 °C 30 % 61 km/h 0.6 mm High 37
25 Aug 15.3 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Aug 21.1 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Aug 25.1 °C 15 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Aug 27.1 °C 12 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
29 Aug 27.2 °C 6 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
30 Aug 25.3 °C 14 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
31 Aug 19.9 °C 23 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Sept 18.2 °C 28 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
2 Sept 24.1 °C 17 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
3 Sept 21.9 °C 29 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
4 Sept 23.2 °C 21 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
5 Sept 24.7 °C 14 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
6 Sept 25.8 °C 17 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Sept 25.3 °C 21 % 20 km/h 0.2 mm High 35
8 Sept 18.1 °C 44 % 46 km/h 7.6 mm Moderate 21
9 Sept after 11.5 °C 83 % 54 km/h 14.6 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 30.1, a minimum humidity of 26% and 11 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2018: 23.

FWI at the start 30.1
Minimum humidity 26 %
Days without rain 11
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

North Okanagan E fire, July 2021
3,658 ha 96 days FWI 30.4 Min. humidity 23 % 179 km away, in 2021

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 13.2 mm on 22 Oct.

What happened to them

33 days
median duration
2,703 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
5.9 mm
rain at the end (median; 23 of 23 had it)

It stayed below its twins: 1,490 ha against a median of 2,703 ha. It lasted 61 days, against 33 days.

All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 5.9 mm.

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

14.6 mmfirst rain
9 Septthe day after it ended
71km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 8 Sept, and on 9 Sept 14.6 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 23 of 23, with a median of 5.9 mm.

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 · 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 · 390Every 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 10 July 2017 to 8 September 2017 (61 days). The perimeter dates it from 10 July 2017 to 7 September 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 1,490 hectares (14.9 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 (1,480 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.7 °C, humidity dropped to 4 % and gusts hit 71 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2018 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 23. Their median duration was 33 days and their median area 2,703 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 5.9 mm.

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 10 July 2017 to 7 September 2017. 390 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.