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Eeyou Istchee Baie-James fire, 8 July 2016 Eeyou Istchee Baie-James

Out · last detection 12 Jul 2016, 18:31 UTC

The fire started on 8 July 2016 in Eeyou Istchee Baie-James, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 26 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 4,995 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 79th largest in Quebec since 2016 (of 170 with a page). Number 27 in Canada in 2016, of 88.

Burnt area
4,995ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
26days
8 Jul 2016 – 2 Aug 2016
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
8 Jul
2016
Heat detections
151
in a single hotspot: 286 MW
Danger at start
8
Low · FWI index
Average daily power
909MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Jul2 Aug
12 Jul 2016

How it evolved, day by day

9 Jul 2016 · 130 MW · 8 10 Jul 2016 · 689 MW · 24 11 Jul 2016 · 637 MW · 16 12 Jul 2016 · 2,179 MW · 103
9 Jul 10 Jul 11 Jul 12 Jul

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
62km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.9 mm on 3 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 3.2% of the area of London (50 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. Eeyou Istchee Baie-James where it started
    5,230 ha reached on 9 Jul
    0.0 %

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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
8 Jul 24.1 °C 39 % 20 km/h 1.4 mm Low 8
9 Jul 25.8 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
10 Jul 24.1 °C 35 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
11 Jul 24.8 °C 23 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
12 Jul 27.6 °C 19 % 48 km/h 2.3 mm High 33
13 Jul 26.1 °C 54 % 52 km/h 21.8 mm Very low 3
14 Jul 22.6 °C 76 % 50 km/h 18.1 mm Very low 0
15 Jul 13.7 °C 58 % 55 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 0
16 Jul 22.3 °C 43 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
17 Jul 23.9 °C 37 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
18 Jul 17.5 °C 61 % 57 km/h 11.5 mm Very low 0
19 Jul 17.4 °C 52 % 42 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 0
20 Jul 25.6 °C 44 % 37 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 4
21 Jul 23.4 °C 70 % 40 km/h 19.3 mm Very low 0
22 Jul 17.0 °C 76 % 33 km/h 1.2 mm Very low 0
23 Jul 17.3 °C 62 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
24 Jul 18.0 °C 58 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
25 Jul 20.3 °C 53 % 42 km/h 3.3 mm Very low 5
26 Jul 19.2 °C 81 % 28 km/h 11.6 mm Very low 0
27 Jul 15.9 °C 88 % 34 km/h 8.1 mm Very low 0
28 Jul 13.6 °C 88 % 38 km/h 3.1 mm Very low 0
29 Jul 16.3 °C 73 % 28 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 0
30 Jul 16.7 °C 70 % 28 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 0
31 Jul 19.9 °C 54 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
1 Aug 27.4 °C 41 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
2 Aug 28.6 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
3 Aug after 23.1 °C 61 % 38 km/h 1.9 mm Moderate 11

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 8.1, a minimum humidity of 39% and 6 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2017: 16.

FWI at the start 8.1
Minimum humidity 39 %
Days without rain 6
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Eeyou Istchee Baie-James fire, June 2023
271,374 ha 40 days FWI 9.8 Min. humidity 39 % 210 km away, in 2023

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 6.4 mm on 11 Jul.

What happened to them

8 days
median duration
2,863 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
6.7 mm
rain at the end (median; 16 of 16 had it)

It was 1.7 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 26 days, against 8 days.

Only 7 of its 16 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 6.7 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

1.9 mmfirst rain
3 Augthe day after it ended
62km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 2 Aug, and on 3 Aug 1.9 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 16 of 16, with a median of 6.7 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 2017.
  • 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 · 1 Jul 2016
After · 9 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 · 151Every 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 Eeyou Istchee Baie-James fire last?
It burned between 8 July 2016 and 2 August 2016: 26 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 4,995 hectares (50.0 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Eeyou Istchee Baie-James (5,230 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.6 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 62 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2017 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 16. Their median duration was 8 days and their median area 2,863 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 7 of its 16 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 6.7 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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 151 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.