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Lynx Fire, July 2021 Idaho

Out · last detection 8 Oct 2021, 08:57 UTC

The fire started on 17 July 2021 in Idaho, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 84 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 5,588 hectares, spread across a single county.

It is the 64th largest in Idaho since 2016 (of 379 with a page). Number 81 in United States in 2021, of 385.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Shissler · 2020Indian Ridge · 2022Lone Pine · 2017Cascade · 2026

Burnt area
5,588ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
≈ 84days
17 Jul 2021 – 8 Oct 2021
Counties hit
1
counties
Started on
17 Jul
2021
Heat detections
821
in a single hotspot: 172 MW
Danger at start
38
High · FWI index
Average daily power
98MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Jul8 Oct
8 Oct 2021

How it evolved, day by day

17 Jul 2021 · 19 MW · 5 18 Jul 2021 · 18 MW · 5 19 Jul 2021 · 17 MW · 2 21 Jul 2021 · 63 MW · 8 22 Jul 2021 · 36 MW · 7 23 Jul 2021 · 82 MW · 15 24 Jul 2021 · 89 MW · 15 25 Jul 2021 · 28 MW · 14 26 Jul 2021 · 50 MW · 12 27 Jul 2021 · 3 MW · 1 29 Jul 2021 · 5 MW · 4 30 Jul 2021 · 1,551 MW · 74 31 Jul 2021 · 225 MW · 80 3 Aug 2021 · 1 MW · 1 7 Aug 2021 · 9 MW · 3 8 Aug 2021 · 3 MW · 4 11 Aug 2021 · 7 MW · 1 12 Aug 2021 · 29 MW · 9 13 Aug 2021 · 250 MW · 19 14 Aug 2021 · 304 MW · 31 15 Aug 2021 · 215 MW · 34 16 Aug 2021 · 250 MW · 54 17 Aug 2021 · 75 MW · 38 19 Aug 2021 · 1 MW · 1 20 Aug 2021 · 1 MW · 1 26 Aug 2021 · 1 MW · 2 27 Aug 2021 · 2 MW · 1 28 Aug 2021 · 10 MW · 1 29 Aug 2021 · 7 MW · 3 30 Aug 2021 · 4 MW · 4 31 Aug 2021 · 2 MW · 2 1 Sept 2021 · 1 MW · 2 3 Sept 2021 · 1 MW · 2 4 Sept 2021 · 8 MW · 1 5 Sept 2021 · 40 MW · 14 6 Sept 2021 · 44 MW · 15 7 Sept 2021 · 21 MW · 14 8 Sept 2021 · 182 MW · 22 9 Sept 2021 · 55 MW · 29 10 Sept 2021 · 36 MW · 12 11 Sept 2021 · 14 MW · 6 12 Sept 2021 · 15 MW · 5 14 Sept 2021 · 16 MW · 8 15 Sept 2021 · 23 MW · 14 16 Sept 2021 · 8 MW · 2 17 Sept 2021 · 133 MW · 3 18 Sept 2021 · 1,293 MW · 90 24 Sept 2021 · 3 MW · 1 25 Sept 2021 · 34 MW · 12 26 Sept 2021 · 35 MW · 12 27 Sept 2021 · 201 MW · 25 30 Sept 2021 · 12 MW · 4 1 Oct 2021 · 16 MW · 6 2 Oct 2021 · 8 MW · 4 3 Oct 2021 · 13 MW · 6 4 Oct 2021 · 42 MW · 13 5 Oct 2021 · 131 MW · 21 6 Oct 2021 · 46 MW · 26 8 Oct 2021 · 1 MW · 1
17 Jul 27 Jul 30 Jul 13 Aug 28 Aug 7 Sept 17 Sept 3 Oct

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

36°high
71km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.1 mm on 10 Oct.

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 3.5% of the area of London (56 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

  1. Idaho where it started
    5,562 ha reached on 17 Jul
    0.2 %

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)
17 Jul 33.3 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
18 Jul 35.5 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Jul 29.4 °C 28 % 44 km/h 1.7 mm Moderate 20
20 Jul 29.6 °C 41 % 33 km/h 8.7 mm Very low 4
21 Jul 29.9 °C 35 % 52 km/h 2.1 mm Low 8
22 Jul 28.3 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
23 Jul 29.3 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
24 Jul 32.9 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
25 Jul 33.3 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Jul 34.3 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.6 mm High 33
27 Jul 32.0 °C 27 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
28 Jul 32.2 °C 29 % 31 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 20
29 Jul 33.3 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
30 Jul 36.0 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
31 Jul 33.6 °C 24 % 52 km/h 3.5 mm Moderate 16
1 Aug 31.1 °C 44 % 32 km/h 12.2 mm Very low 3
2 Aug 27.7 °C 41 % 42 km/h 0.1 mm Low 8
3 Aug 32.4 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
4 Aug 32.4 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.4 mm High 24
5 Aug 27.5 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 17
6 Aug 24.4 °C 50 % 48 km/h 5.5 mm Very low 3
7 Aug 29.3 °C 30 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
8 Aug 19.0 °C 42 % 55 km/h 2.2 mm Very low 4
9 Aug 24.9 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
10 Aug 28.4 °C 24 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
11 Aug 31.9 °C 28 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
12 Aug 34.1 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
13 Aug 33.5 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
14 Aug 31.7 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
15 Aug 33.7 °C 20 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Aug 31.9 °C 22 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Aug 22.2 °C 45 % 48 km/h 5.2 mm Very low 3
18 Aug 13.7 °C 77 % 26 km/h 4.8 mm Very low 0
19 Aug 19.7 °C 44 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
20 Aug 24.3 °C 37 % 26 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 4
21 Aug 17.6 °C 71 % 28 km/h 14.6 mm Very low 0
22 Aug 24.1 °C 31 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
23 Aug 21.3 °C 35 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
24 Aug 25.0 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
25 Aug 26.6 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 15
26 Aug 23.0 °C 34 % 33 km/h 1.2 mm Low 8
27 Aug 18.9 °C 51 % 43 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 3
28 Aug 24.6 °C 30 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
29 Aug 29.1 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
30 Aug 28.1 °C 22 % 47 km/h 0.3 mm High 23
31 Aug 22.4 °C 28 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
1 Sept 22.3 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
2 Sept 22.4 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
3 Sept 24.2 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
4 Sept 28.1 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
5 Sept 30.9 °C 14 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
6 Sept 28.3 °C 31 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
7 Sept 30.9 °C 20 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
8 Sept 30.5 °C 21 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
9 Sept 29.0 °C 24 % 50 km/h 0.2 mm High 33
10 Sept 26.7 °C 35 % 49 km/h 5.2 mm Very low 5
11 Sept 22.7 °C 38 % 39 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 5
12 Sept 23.7 °C 34 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
13 Sept 23.4 °C 30 % 39 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
14 Sept 24.8 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
15 Sept 22.8 °C 36 % 62 km/h 0.1 mm High 26
16 Sept 16.8 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
17 Sept 25.3 °C 18 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
18 Sept 24.1 °C 23 % 71 km/h 2.1 mm Moderate 15
19 Sept 11.0 °C 84 % 42 km/h 11.0 mm Very low 0
20 Sept 13.5 °C 55 % 37 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 0
21 Sept 24.1 °C 21 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
22 Sept 23.8 °C 26 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
23 Sept 20.8 °C 38 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
24 Sept 26.1 °C 25 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
25 Sept 28.2 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
26 Sept 27.3 °C 20 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
27 Sept 25.3 °C 18 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
28 Sept 11.6 °C 68 % 44 km/h 9.0 mm Very low 0
29 Sept 15.3 °C 35 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
30 Sept 21.5 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Low 5
1 Oct 19.4 °C 43 % 30 km/h 0.5 mm Low 9
2 Oct 22.7 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
3 Oct 24.8 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
4 Oct 25.5 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
5 Oct 25.2 °C 17 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
6 Oct 17.0 °C 43 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
7 Oct 11.9 °C 76 % 36 km/h 7.1 mm Very low 0
8 Oct 11.7 °C 74 % 26 km/h 3.5 mm Very low 0
9 Oct after 12.4 °C 40 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
10 Oct after 12.1 °C 67 % 57 km/h 5.1 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 10 Jul 2021
After · 15 Oct 2021

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 · 821Every 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 Lynx Fire last?
The official perimeter only gives the start date (17 July 2021). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 8 October 2021 (84 days from 17 July 2021), 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 5,588 hectares (55.9 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire only entered Idaho (5,562 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.0 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 71 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, 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 · 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.

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.

Report an error
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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: 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. 821 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.