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Liberty Fire, July 2017 Missoula

Out · last measured on 15 Jul 2017

The fire started on 15 July 2017 in Missoula, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 11,231 hectares, spread across a single county.

It is the 26th largest in Montana since 2016 (of 302 with a page). Number 74 in United States in 2017, of 619.

Burnt area
11,231ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
1day
15 Jul 2017 – 15 Jul 2017
Municipalities hit
1
counties
Started on
15 Jul
2017
Heat detections
3,270
in a single hotspot: 257 MW
Danger at start
17
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Jul15 Jul

The weather it burned in

31°high
58km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.3 mm on 14 Sept.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Missoula where it started
    11,201 ha reached on 23 Jul
    1.7 %

Burnt area inside each county, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

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 30.0 °C 21 % 35 km/h 2.0 mm Moderate 17
16 Jul after 24.9 °C 13 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Jul after 24.2 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
18 Jul after 27.5 °C 13 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
19 Jul after 28.7 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
20 Jul after 27.5 °C 16 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
21 Jul after 25.5 °C 15 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
22 Jul after 27.2 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
23 Jul after 30.8 °C 15 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
24 Jul after 29.3 °C 7 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
25 Jul after 28.4 °C 9 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
26 Jul after 29.5 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 Jul after 28.1 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.8 mm High 33
28 Jul after 29.1 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
29 Jul after 30.4 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
30 Jul after 31.1 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
31 Jul after 30.4 °C 8 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Aug after 28.8 °C 10 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
2 Aug after 24.3 °C 31 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
3 Aug after 28.5 °C 16 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
4 Aug after 28.3 °C 21 % 37 km/h 1.3 mm High 27
5 Aug after 22.6 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm High 25
6 Aug after 26.0 °C 14 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Aug after 27.0 °C 13 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
8 Aug after 26.2 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
9 Aug after 26.1 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
10 Aug after 27.0 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
11 Aug after 28.0 °C 16 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
12 Aug after 28.2 °C 15 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Aug after 18.6 °C 33 % 49 km/h 2.6 mm Low 9
14 Aug after 20.3 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 16
15 Aug after 23.7 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
16 Aug after 24.5 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
17 Aug after 25.2 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
18 Aug after 27.3 °C 14 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
19 Aug after 22.6 °C 19 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Aug after 21.5 °C 20 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 Aug after 24.5 °C 19 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
22 Aug after 28.7 °C 14 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
23 Aug after 28.3 °C 16 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 39
24 Aug after 23.8 °C 30 % 50 km/h 0.7 mm High 29
25 Aug after 24.7 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
26 Aug after 26.3 °C 10 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 Aug after 29.2 °C 10 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
28 Aug after 29.2 °C 11 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Aug after 30.2 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
30 Aug after 29.5 °C 11 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
31 Aug after 25.7 °C 16 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
1 Sept after 27.1 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
2 Sept after 30.5 °C 10 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
3 Sept after 30.0 °C 8 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Sept after 22.2 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
5 Sept after 24.4 °C 20 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
6 Sept after 26.7 °C 15 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Sept after 28.2 °C 17 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
8 Sept after 25.2 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.5 mm High 35
9 Sept after 26.4 °C 28 % 50 km/h 0.3 mm High 38
10 Sept after 22.2 °C 28 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
11 Sept after 26.1 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Sept after 25.8 °C 18 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Sept after 20.6 °C 24 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
14 Sept after 13.1 °C 40 % 30 km/h 6.3 mm Very low 2

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Jul 2017
After · 22 Jul 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 · 3,270Every 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 United States ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Liberty fire last?
It burned between 15 July 2017 and 15 July 2017: 1 day, according to the start date recorded by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) and the heat detections seen by satellite.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 11,231 hectares (112.3 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire only entered Missoula (11,201 ha, 1.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.1 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 58 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, class Very high.
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

Satellite cross-check

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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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.