How long did the Goshute Cave Fire last?

The official perimeter only gives the start date (13 August 2018). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 17 September 2018 (36 days from 13 August 2018), the last day with detections before more than 10 days in a row without any, so it is approximate.

How much area did it burn?

The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 11,087 hectares (110.9 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.

Which counties burned?

The fire entered 2 counties: White Pine (5,997 ha, 0.3 %); Elko (5,073 ha, 0.1 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 28.1 °C, humidity dropped to 2 % and gusts hit 90 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 73, class Very extreme.

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.

US · United States · 2018-08-13 → 2018-09-17

Goshute Cave Fire, August 2018 White Pine, Elko

Out · last detection 17 Sept 2018, 09:43 UTC

The fire started on 13 August 2018 in White Pine, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 36 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 11,087 hectares, spread across 2 counties.

It is the 22th largest in Nevada since 2016 (of 237 with a page). Number 65 in United States in 2018, of 511.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Becky Peak · 2022 Boone Springs · 2018 Flat · 2020 Kinsley · 2022

Burnt area: 11,087ha; official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration: ≈ 36days; 13 Aug 2018 – 17 Sept 2018
Counties hit: 2; counties
Started on: 13 Aug; 2018
Heat detections: 1,423; in a single hotspot: 730 MW
Danger at start: 51; Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power: 1.6GW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Aug17 Sept

Play back 17 Sept 2018

How it evolved, day by day

14 Aug 20 Aug 25 Aug 30 Aug 4 Sept 11 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

28°high

90km/h · peak gust

2%lowest humidity

It had gone 19 days 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.

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 7% of the area of London (111 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 county

White Pine where it started

5,997 ha reached on 14 Aug

0.3 %
Elko

5,073 ha reached on 24 Aug

0.1 %

Burnt area inside each county, 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 2020

Built-up area< 0.1 ha

Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, 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)
13 Aug	28.1 °C	13 %	48 km/h	0.3 mm	Extreme 51
14 Aug	27.4 °C	11 %	30 km/h	0.4 mm	Very high 42
15 Aug	25.2 °C	16 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
16 Aug	25.3 °C	19 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
17 Aug	25.9 °C	14 %	36 km/h	0.1 mm	Very high 44
18 Aug	26.5 °C	9 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
19 Aug	27.7 °C	7 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
20 Aug	27.6 °C	9 %	58 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
21 Aug	23.4 °C	16 %	42 km/h	0.6 mm	Very high 40
22 Aug	24.7 °C	9 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 53
23 Aug	26.4 °C	7 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
24 Aug	27.0 °C	6 %	56 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
25 Aug	26.4 °C	4 %	56 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
26 Aug	23.5 °C	2 %	61 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 63
27 Aug	21.9 °C	11 %	63 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
28 Aug	22.0 °C	16 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
29 Aug	25.5 °C	7 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 50
30 Aug	24.5 °C	10 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
31 Aug	24.2 °C	7 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
1 Sept	23.2 °C	11 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
2 Sept	25.5 °C	8 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
3 Sept	23.6 °C	10 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
4 Sept	23.6 °C	9 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
5 Sept	23.7 °C	14 %	25 km/h	0.3 mm	Very high 42
6 Sept	23.4 °C	16 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
7 Sept	26.1 °C	12 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
8 Sept	26.0 °C	5 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
9 Sept	25.4 °C	4 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 50
10 Sept	26.3 °C	5 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
11 Sept	24.5 °C	5 %	51 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
12 Sept	22.5 °C	6 %	55 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
13 Sept	22.3 °C	7 %	57 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
14 Sept	23.6 °C	9 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
15 Sept	23.5 °C	12 %	90 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 73
16 Sept	24.1 °C	7 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
17 Sept	24.0 °C	8 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
18 Sept after	22.4 °C	5 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
19 Sept after	20.4 °C	6 %	58 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
20 Sept after	18.9 °C	11 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
21 Sept after	22.9 °C	7 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
22 Sept after	22.6 °C	8 %	51 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 53
23 Sept after	20.8 °C	6 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
24 Sept after	19.3 °C	11 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
25 Sept after	17.7 °C	9 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
26 Sept after	20.1 °C	6 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
27 Sept after	22.9 °C	9 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 6 Aug 2018

After · 24 Sept 2018

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.

Detections table · 1,423Every 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 United States ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Goshute Cave Fire last?: The official perimeter only gives the start date (13 August 2018). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 17 September 2018 (36 days from 13 August 2018), the last day with detections before more than 10 days in a row without any, so it is approximate.
How much area did it burn?: The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 11,087 hectares (110.9 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?: The fire entered 2 counties: White Pine (5,997 ha, 0.3 %); Elko (5,073 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 28.1 °C, humidity dropped to 2 % and gusts hit 90 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 73, class Very extreme.
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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
NIFC · Fire maps ↗

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

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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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How we know this

Perimeter: MTBS (US Geological Survey and US Forest Service), official.
The official perimeter has no end date: the end is the last day with VIIRS detections inside the perimeter before a gap of more than 10 days (150 days at most), so it is approximate. 1,423 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 2020, 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 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.

Where it burned