Mackenzie County fire, May 2018 Mackenzie County
The fire started on 24 May 2018 in Mackenzie County, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 4,117 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.
It is the 123th largest in Alberta since 2016 (of 243 with a page). Number 96 in Canada in 2018, of 212.
- Burnt area
- 4,117ha
- official perimeter (CWFIS)
- Duration
- 5days
- 24 May 2018 – 28 May 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 24 May
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 141
- in a single hotspot: 236 MW
- Danger at start
- 30
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 5.5GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 19 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.0 mm on 29 May.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Mackenzie County where it started4,133 ha reached on 24 May0.0 %
Burnt area inside each census subdivision, 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 May | 26.1 °C | 26 % | 47 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 30 |
| 25 May | 20.8 °C | 25 % | 32 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 25 |
| 26 May | 13.8 °C | 45 % | 52 km/h | 6.3 mm | Very low 2 |
| 27 May | 19.2 °C | 26 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 8 |
| 28 May | 18.5 °C | 25 % | 67 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 29 May after | 11.5 °C | 62 % | 35 km/h | 5.0 mm | Very low 1 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 141Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mackenzie County fire last?
- It burned between 24 May 2018 and 28 May 2018: 5 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 4,117 hectares (41.2 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
- Which census subdivisions burned?
- The fire only entered Mackenzie County (4,133 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 26.1 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 67 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 30, 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.
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
- CIFFC · Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre ↗
- CWFIS · Canadian Wildland Fire Information System ↗
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.
Report an error
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.