How long did the Mackenzie County fire last?

It burned between 2 July 2024 and 19 September 2024: 80 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 58,137 hectares (581.4 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.

Which census subdivisions burned?

The fire only entered Mackenzie County (59,874 ha, 0.7 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 30.7 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, 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.

CA · Canada · 2024-07-02 → 2024-09-19

Mackenzie County fire, 2 July 2024 Mackenzie County

Out · last detection 19 Sept 2024, 10:40 UTC

The fire started on 2 July 2024 in Mackenzie County, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 80 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 58,137 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 17th largest in Alberta since 2016 (of 243 with a page). Number 17 in Canada in 2024, of 291.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Mackenzie County · 2018 Mackenzie County · 2022 Mackenzie County · 2023

Burnt area: 58,137ha; official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration: 80days; 2 Jul 2024 – 19 Sept 2024
Census subdivisions hit: 1; municipalities
Started on: 2 Jul; 2024
Heat detections: 12,061; in a single hotspot: 540 MW
Danger at start: 1; Very low · FWI index
Average daily power: 3.5GW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 2 Jul19 Sept

Play back 19 Sept 2024

How it evolved, day by day

2 Jul 16 Jul 18 Jul 29 Jul 7 Aug 18 Aug 1 Sept 17 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

31°high

51km/h · peak gust

26%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.8 mm on 20 Sept.

This area had burned before

1% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 306 ha in 2018.

306 ha Mackenzie County fire, June 2018 3,600 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 37% of the area of London (581 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

Mackenzie County where it started

59,874 ha reached on 2 Jul

0.7 %

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)
2 Jul	19.5 °C	57 %	36 km/h	4.1 mm	Very low 1
3 Jul	23.4 °C	33 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 6
4 Jul	25.2 °C	36 %	38 km/h	0.6 mm	Moderate 13
5 Jul	22.9 °C	33 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
6 Jul	23.7 °C	38 %	31 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 16
7 Jul	26.8 °C	31 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
8 Jul	26.0 °C	39 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
9 Jul	29.2 °C	26 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
10 Jul	25.8 °C	41 %	26 km/h	0.6 mm	Moderate 18
11 Jul	19.3 °C	62 %	48 km/h	4.5 mm	Very low 3
12 Jul	19.6 °C	36 %	35 km/h	1.8 mm	Very low 4
13 Jul	19.6 °C	46 %	26 km/h	0.6 mm	Low 7
14 Jul	24.5 °C	32 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
15 Jul	28.3 °C	31 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
16 Jul	28.8 °C	29 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
17 Jul	30.7 °C	29 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
18 Jul	29.9 °C	28 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
19 Jul	25.4 °C	45 %	31 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 21
20 Jul	23.8 °C	57 %	27 km/h	10.5 mm	Very low 1
21 Jul	25.5 °C	51 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
22 Jul	25.4 °C	49 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
23 Jul	22.9 °C	54 %	48 km/h	18.6 mm	Very low 1
24 Jul	19.7 °C	47 %	29 km/h	0.2 mm	Very low 2
25 Jul	19.3 °C	50 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 5
26 Jul	20.2 °C	45 %	48 km/h	0.5 mm	Low 10
27 Jul	24.4 °C	43 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 9
28 Jul	23.0 °C	35 %	42 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 14
29 Jul	20.7 °C	43 %	34 km/h	3.2 mm	Very low 2
30 Jul	22.9 °C	33 %	40 km/h	0.8 mm	Low 8
31 Jul	17.9 °C	56 %	41 km/h	2.6 mm	Very low 2
1 Aug	18.7 °C	42 %	35 km/h	3.4 mm	Very low 1
2 Aug	23.0 °C	27 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 6
3 Aug	24.5 °C	30 %	23 km/h	1.5 mm	Low 6
4 Aug	16.6 °C	69 %	27 km/h	7.9 mm	Very low 0
5 Aug	21.8 °C	41 %	16 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 1
6 Aug	23.3 °C	39 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 6
7 Aug	26.2 °C	33 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
8 Aug	26.5 °C	31 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
9 Aug	26.9 °C	31 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
10 Aug	29.2 °C	33 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
11 Aug	30.6 °C	30 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
12 Aug	29.2 °C	35 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
13 Aug	19.0 °C	61 %	37 km/h	5.7 mm	Very low 1
14 Aug	16.4 °C	70 %	18 km/h	1.7 mm	Very low 1
15 Aug	15.6 °C	61 %	30 km/h	1.6 mm	Very low 1
16 Aug	18.4 °C	47 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 3
17 Aug	21.5 °C	41 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
18 Aug	20.3 °C	57 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
19 Aug	24.5 °C	35 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
20 Aug	20.8 °C	47 %	44 km/h	2.0 mm	Low 5
21 Aug	11.9 °C	63 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 7
22 Aug	19.7 °C	47 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 9
23 Aug	18.1 °C	45 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
24 Aug	15.8 °C	56 %	16 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 9
25 Aug	19.8 °C	52 %	36 km/h	0.4 mm	Moderate 12
26 Aug	19.3 °C	58 %	37 km/h	0.8 mm	Low 8
27 Aug	15.9 °C	78 %	28 km/h	6.6 mm	Very low 0
28 Aug	22.1 °C	34 %	51 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
29 Aug	17.9 °C	44 %	48 km/h	0.1 mm	Low 9
30 Aug	17.8 °C	45 %	39 km/h	0.4 mm	Low 10
31 Aug	21.2 °C	33 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
1 Sept	24.0 °C	32 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
2 Sept	15.2 °C	65 %	32 km/h	3.7 mm	Very low 1
3 Sept	14.6 °C	67 %	29 km/h	5.7 mm	Very low 0
4 Sept	18.8 °C	33 %	36 km/h	0.2 mm	Very low 2
5 Sept	22.4 °C	40 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
6 Sept	23.2 °C	34 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
7 Sept	22.7 °C	33 %	35 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 13
8 Sept	13.8 °C	57 %	30 km/h	2.5 mm	Very low 2
9 Sept	14.0 °C	59 %	45 km/h	1.7 mm	Very low 2
10 Sept	14.7 °C	39 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
11 Sept	16.0 °C	47 %	35 km/h	0.5 mm	Low 6
12 Sept	19.5 °C	35 %	26 km/h	0.1 mm	Low 10
13 Sept	18.5 °C	46 %	23 km/h	0.6 mm	Low 9
14 Sept	18.6 °C	42 %	30 km/h	0.1 mm	Low 10
15 Sept	18.1 °C	54 %	36 km/h	0.7 mm	Low 8
16 Sept	17.6 °C	39 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
17 Sept	17.1 °C	44 %	24 km/h	10.0 mm	Very low 0
18 Sept	15.4 °C	35 %	39 km/h	1.3 mm	Very low 2
19 Sept	15.1 °C	45 %	28 km/h	1.2 mm	Very low 2
20 Sept after	10.9 °C	62 %	22 km/h	1.8 mm	Very low 1

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 25 Jun 2024

After · 26 Sept 2024

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.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 15 August 2024 the air beside the fire reached 1,021 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 576: 38 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak1,021 µg/m³

Days over the guideline52 days

PM101,460 µg/m³

Optical depth9.47

WHO 15

30123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303112345678910111213141516171819202122

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 · 12,061Every 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 Canada ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Mackenzie County fire last?: It burned between 2 July 2024 and 19 September 2024: 80 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 58,137 hectares (581.4 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?: The fire only entered Mackenzie County (59,874 ha, 0.7 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 30.7 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, 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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
CWFIS · Interactive map ↗

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.

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What do you think is wrong?

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What really happened?

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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: NBAC (Natural Resources Canada), official.
Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 12,061 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.

Where it burned