How long did the East Kootenay E fire last?

It burned between 15 July 2024 and 18 August 2024: 35 days, according to the dates recorded by Canada’s CWFIS and the heat detections seen by satellite.

How much area did it burn?

The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 10,860 hectares (108.6 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.

Which census subdivisions burned?

The fire only entered East Kootenay E (10,881 ha, 2.5 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 29.4 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 72 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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.

CA · Canada · 15 Jul 2024 – 18 Aug 2024

East Kootenay E fire, July 2024 East Kootenay E

Out · last detection 5 Aug 2024, 09:46 UTC

The fire started on 15 July 2024 in East Kootenay E, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 35 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 10,860 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 102th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 449 with a page). Number 84 in Canada in 2024, of 291.

Compare with…

Suggestions: East Kootenay C · 2017 East Kootenay E · 2021 East Kootenay C · 2023 East Kootenay E · 2026

Burnt area: 10,860ha; official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration: 35days; 15 Jul 2024 – 18 Aug 2024
Census subdivisions hit: 1; municipalities
Started on: 15 Jul; 2024
Heat detections: 773; in a single hotspot: 396 MW
Danger at start: 18; Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power: 1.8GW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Jul18 Aug

Play back 5 Aug 2024

How it evolved, day by day

17 Jul 21 Jul 24 Jul 29 Jul 4 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

29°high

72km/h · peak gust

15%lowest humidity

It had gone 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 21 Aug.

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 6.9% of the area of London (109 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

East Kootenay E where it started

10,881 ha reached on 17 Jul

2.5 %

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 2025

Built-up area< 0.1 ha

Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)
15 Jul	25.9 °C	22 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
16 Jul	25.8 °C	22 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
17 Jul	27.2 °C	18 %	22 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 19
18 Jul	24.9 °C	30 %	23 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 18
19 Jul	26.2 °C	25 %	33 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 20
20 Jul	28.2 °C	18 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
21 Jul	29.4 °C	21 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
22 Jul	27.9 °C	21 %	35 km/h	0.1 mm	High 24
23 Jul	25.8 °C	19 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
24 Jul	25.3 °C	15 %	61 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
25 Jul	16.6 °C	32 %	72 km/h	3.3 mm	Very low 5
26 Jul	16.4 °C	26 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 11
27 Jul	17.6 °C	29 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
28 Jul	19.1 °C	30 %	38 km/h	0.2 mm	Moderate 16
29 Jul	18.7 °C	35 %	58 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
30 Jul	18.2 °C	49 %	37 km/h	1.5 mm	Low 5
31 Jul	22.0 °C	30 %	55 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
1 Aug	26.5 °C	22 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
2 Aug	27.0 °C	20 %	38 km/h	0.1 mm	High 25
3 Aug	24.7 °C	22 %	44 km/h	0.1 mm	High 27
4 Aug	19.8 °C	46 %	31 km/h	2.2 mm	Very low 5
5 Aug	20.2 °C	42 %	43 km/h	2.0 mm	Very low 4
6 Aug	19.4 °C	49 %	30 km/h	9.8 mm	Very low 0
7 Aug	15.2 °C	51 %	28 km/h	8.4 mm	Very low 0
8 Aug	18.2 °C	35 %	27 km/h	0.7 mm	Very low 1
9 Aug	19.9 °C	30 %	27 km/h	0.4 mm	Very low 4
10 Aug	19.4 °C	35 %	25 km/h	0.5 mm	Low 8
11 Aug	19.2 °C	35 %	25 km/h	1.1 mm	Low 6
12 Aug	16.8 °C	42 %	33 km/h	0.8 mm	Low 6
13 Aug	19.5 °C	39 %	31 km/h	0.5 mm	Low 9
14 Aug	19.1 °C	39 %	22 km/h	0.4 mm	Low 9
15 Aug	19.8 °C	36 %	32 km/h	0.4 mm	Moderate 12
16 Aug	12.3 °C	67 %	28 km/h	21.7 mm	Very low 0
17 Aug	17.7 °C	43 %	26 km/h	0.1 mm	Very low 0
18 Aug	22.6 °C	31 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
19 Aug after	24.0 °C	21 %	56 km/h	0.6 mm	Moderate 12
20 Aug after	18.6 °C	27 %	58 km/h	0.3 mm	Moderate 13
21 Aug after	12.5 °C	52 %	38 km/h	1.2 mm	Very low 3

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 8 Jul 2024

After · 25 Aug 2024

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.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 26 July 2024 the air beside the fire reached 269 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 108: 7.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak269 µg/m³

Days over the guideline15 days

PM10385 µg/m³

Optical depth1.86

WHO 15

13 Jul21 Jul29 Jul6 Aug14 Aug

Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 773Every 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 Canada

Frequently asked questions

How long did the East Kootenay E fire last?: It burned between 15 July 2024 and 18 August 2024: 35 days, according to the dates recorded by Canada’s CWFIS and the heat detections seen by satellite.
How much area did it burn?: The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 10,860 hectares (108.6 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?: The fire only entered East Kootenay E (10,881 ha, 2.5 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 29.4 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 72 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
CWFIS · Interactive map ↗

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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What really happened?

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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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 773 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 2025, 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.

Where it burned