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Kenora, Unorganized fire, 11 July 2024 Kenora, Unorganized, Division No. 22, Unorganized

Out · last detection 21 Aug 2024, 19:34 UTC

The fire started on 11 July 2024 in Kenora, Unorganized, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 43 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 14,686 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 census subdivisions.

It is the 25th largest in Ontario since 2016 (of 144 with a page). Number 69 in Canada in 2024, of 291.

Burnt area
14,686ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
43days
11 Jul 2024 – 22 Aug 2024
Census subdivisions hit
2
municipalities
Started on
11 Jul
2024
Heat detections
1,488
in a single hotspot: 899 MW
Danger at start
15
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
1.6GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 11 Jul22 Aug
21 Aug 2024

How it evolved, day by day

30 Jul 2024 · 74 MW · 7 2 Aug 2024 · 15 MW · 3 3 Aug 2024 · 43 MW · 27 4 Aug 2024 · 87 MW · 26 5 Aug 2024 · 597 MW · 54 6 Aug 2024 · 80 MW · 7 8 Aug 2024 · 15 MW · 1 9 Aug 2024 · 121 MW · 13 10 Aug 2024 · 7 MW · 5 11 Aug 2024 · 437 MW · 33 12 Aug 2024 · 504 MW · 37 13 Aug 2024 · 9,055 MW · 137 14 Aug 2024 · 5,942 MW · 355 16 Aug 2024 · 174 MW · 33 17 Aug 2024 · 4,188 MW · 134 18 Aug 2024 · 1,210 MW · 205 19 Aug 2024 · 1,825 MW · 125 20 Aug 2024 · 211 MW · 69 21 Aug 2024 · 6,307 MW · 217
30 Jul 5 Aug 10 Aug 13 Aug 19 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

32°high
60km/h · peak gust
29%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 12.1 mm on 25 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 9.3% of the area of London (147 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. Kenora, Unorganized where it started
    14,930 ha reached on 30 Jul
    0.0 %
  2. 2 ha
    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 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)
11 Jul 32.3 °C 38 % 48 km/h 14.4 mm Moderate 15
12 Jul 18.5 °C 81 % 35 km/h 15.5 mm Very low 0
13 Jul 25.5 °C 50 % 28 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 0
14 Jul 23.9 °C 38 % 41 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 1
15 Jul 18.2 °C 60 % 42 km/h 1.5 mm Very low 2
16 Jul 16.5 °C 56 % 35 km/h 2.7 mm Very low 0
17 Jul 23.8 °C 38 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
18 Jul 26.3 °C 53 % 36 km/h 6.6 mm Low 7
19 Jul 26.7 °C 43 % 35 km/h 5.7 mm Very low 0
20 Jul 24.9 °C 31 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
21 Jul 26.8 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
22 Jul 20.3 °C 47 % 37 km/h 0.6 mm Low 10
23 Jul 22.3 °C 37 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
24 Jul 27.5 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
25 Jul 29.2 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
26 Jul 28.8 °C 64 % 42 km/h 2.6 mm Moderate 15
27 Jul 30.2 °C 29 % 60 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 20
28 Jul 23.5 °C 50 % 54 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 15
29 Jul 26.4 °C 50 % 25 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 12
30 Jul 31.4 °C 31 % 28 km/h 1.5 mm Moderate 13
31 Jul 27.8 °C 54 % 33 km/h 3.5 mm Very low 2
1 Aug 29.9 °C 38 % 48 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 13
2 Aug 25.2 °C 38 % 56 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 20
3 Aug 18.8 °C 44 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
4 Aug 19.8 °C 40 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
5 Aug 22.4 °C 36 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
6 Aug 23.4 °C 35 % 28 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 19
7 Aug 14.0 °C 62 % 47 km/h 10.4 mm Very low 0
8 Aug 17.7 °C 40 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
9 Aug 20.2 °C 41 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
10 Aug 25.8 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
11 Aug 27.8 °C 36 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
12 Aug 29.6 °C 38 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
13 Aug 29.3 °C 31 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
14 Aug 29.4 °C 37 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
15 Aug 25.0 °C 66 % 21 km/h 1.7 mm Very low 4
16 Aug 23.7 °C 58 % 35 km/h 0.5 mm Low 8
17 Aug 23.5 °C 38 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
18 Aug 20.9 °C 46 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
19 Aug 21.8 °C 38 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
20 Aug 30.3 °C 40 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
21 Aug 27.9 °C 48 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
22 Aug 24.1 °C 63 % 38 km/h 2.8 mm Moderate 21
23 Aug after 22.7 °C 60 % 32 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 4
24 Aug after 26.6 °C 50 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
25 Aug after 22.8 °C 81 % 36 km/h 12.1 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 15.0, a minimum humidity of 38% and 1 day without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 30.

FWI at the start 15.0
Minimum humidity 38 %
Days without rain 1
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Kenora, Unorganized fire, July 2021
1,544 ha 25 days FWI 18.8 Min. humidity 39 % 49 km away, in 2021

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 8.2 mm on 4 Aug.

What happened to them

26 days
median duration
5,129 ha
median area
33 %
went past 10,000 ha
9.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 30 of 30 had it)

It was 2.9 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 43 days, against 26 days.

Only 9 of its 30 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 9.2 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

12.1 mmfirst rain
25 Aug3 days after it ended
60km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 22 Aug, and on 25 Aug 12.1 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 30 of 30, with a median of 9.2 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 2016.
  • 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 · 4 Jul 2024
After · 29 Aug 2024

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 22 August 2024 the air beside the fire reached 732 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 115: 7.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak732 µg/m³
Days over the guideline28 days
PM101,043 µg/m³
Optical depth3.10
9 Jul19 Jul29 Jul8 Aug18 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 · 1,488Every 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 Kenora, Unorganized fire last?
It burned between 11 July 2024 and 22 August 2024: 43 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 14,686 hectares (146.9 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire entered 2 census subdivisions: Kenora, Unorganized (14,930 ha, 0.0 %); Division No. 22, Unorganized (2 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.3 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 60 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 30. Their median duration was 26 days and their median area 5,129 ha; 33 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 9 of its 30 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 9.2 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. 1,488 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.