How long did the Mackenzie County fire last?

It burned between 3 July 2024 and 18 September 2024: 78 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 9,092 hectares (90.9 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.

Which census subdivisions burned?

The fire only entered Mackenzie County (9,394 ha, 0.1 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 32.4 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, 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 · 2024-07-03 → 2024-09-18

Mackenzie County fire, 3 July 2024 Mackenzie County

Out · last detection 18 Sept 2024, 10:59 UTC

The fire started on 3 July 2024 in Mackenzie County, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 78 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 9,092 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 68th largest in Alberta since 2016 (of 243 with a page). Number 99 in Canada in 2024, of 291.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Mackenzie County · 2022 Mackenzie County · 2023 Mackenzie County · 2025 Mackenzie County · 2018

Burnt area: 9,092ha; official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration: 78days; 3 Jul 2024 – 18 Sept 2024
Census subdivisions hit: 1; municipalities
Started on: 3 Jul; 2024
Heat detections: 2,061; in a single hotspot: 324 MW
Danger at start: 10; Low · FWI index
Average daily power: 603MW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 3 Jul18 Sept

Play back 18 Sept 2024

How it evolved, day by day

3 Jul 9 Jul 21 Jul 3 Aug 9 Aug 10 Aug 26 Aug 13 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

32°high

53km/h · peak gust

22%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.6 mm on 20 Sept.

This area had burned before

1% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1 ha in 2022.

1 ha Mackenzie County fire, June 2022 6,271 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 5.7% of the area of London (91 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

9,394 ha reached on 3 Jul

0.1 %

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)
3 Jul	24.6 °C	31 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
4 Jul	26.0 °C	34 %	41 km/h	0.2 mm	Moderate 19
5 Jul	23.4 °C	32 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
6 Jul	24.8 °C	35 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
7 Jul	28.9 °C	25 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
8 Jul	27.2 °C	33 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
9 Jul	30.4 °C	22 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
10 Jul	27.9 °C	34 %	28 km/h	0.1 mm	High 28
11 Jul	20.4 °C	55 %	44 km/h	24.0 mm	Very low 1
12 Jul	21.0 °C	35 %	29 km/h	0.6 mm	Very low 4
13 Jul	22.6 °C	35 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 11
14 Jul	25.0 °C	33 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
15 Jul	29.9 °C	28 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
16 Jul	29.4 °C	26 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
17 Jul	32.4 °C	26 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
18 Jul	29.9 °C	28 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
19 Jul	26.7 °C	42 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
20 Jul	24.2 °C	59 %	30 km/h	14.6 mm	Very low 1
21 Jul	26.8 °C	47 %	21 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
22 Jul	27.1 °C	42 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
23 Jul	24.2 °C	52 %	50 km/h	21.8 mm	Very low 1
24 Jul	20.7 °C	43 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 3
25 Jul	19.6 °C	51 %	23 km/h	1.0 mm	Very low 3
26 Jul	21.3 °C	41 %	39 km/h	0.3 mm	Low 8
27 Jul	25.8 °C	34 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
28 Jul	22.3 °C	37 %	44 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 15
29 Jul	21.7 °C	39 %	31 km/h	1.1 mm	Low 8
30 Jul	23.3 °C	33 %	49 km/h	0.2 mm	Moderate 16
31 Jul	18.2 °C	55 %	37 km/h	1.7 mm	Very low 4
1 Aug	19.1 °C	43 %	36 km/h	2.9 mm	Very low 3
2 Aug	23.8 °C	22 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
3 Aug	24.9 °C	27 %	30 km/h	0.4 mm	Moderate 16
4 Aug	18.0 °C	66 %	30 km/h	5.2 mm	Very low 1
5 Aug	22.8 °C	34 %	14 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 3
6 Aug	24.0 °C	33 %	18 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
7 Aug	28.1 °C	28 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
8 Aug	28.1 °C	25 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
9 Aug	28.5 °C	26 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
10 Aug	31.0 °C	29 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
11 Aug	31.2 °C	29 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
12 Aug	28.8 °C	35 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
13 Aug	18.4 °C	64 %	34 km/h	9.8 mm	Very low 0
14 Aug	16.8 °C	66 %	17 km/h	0.7 mm	Very low 1
15 Aug	16.1 °C	57 %	32 km/h	1.6 mm	Very low 1
16 Aug	19.2 °C	41 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 5
17 Aug	23.2 °C	34 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
18 Aug	21.3 °C	50 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
19 Aug	25.4 °C	29 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
20 Aug	20.8 °C	45 %	48 km/h	3.3 mm	Very low 4
21 Aug	13.4 °C	55 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 6
22 Aug	19.9 °C	43 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 9
23 Aug	18.0 °C	43 %	42 km/h	0.6 mm	Moderate 11
24 Aug	16.6 °C	50 %	18 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 9
25 Aug	20.4 °C	50 %	32 km/h	0.3 mm	Low 11
26 Aug	19.5 °C	54 %	37 km/h	0.8 mm	Low 9
27 Aug	16.8 °C	71 %	29 km/h	8.9 mm	Very low 0
28 Aug	22.3 °C	34 %	53 km/h	0.1 mm	Very low 5
29 Aug	18.5 °C	42 %	48 km/h	0.3 mm	Low 9
30 Aug	18.1 °C	42 %	38 km/h	0.8 mm	Low 8
31 Aug	21.6 °C	31 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
1 Sept	24.0 °C	29 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
2 Sept	15.1 °C	58 %	31 km/h	0.4 mm	Low 11
3 Sept	15.2 °C	67 %	30 km/h	2.1 mm	Very low 2
4 Sept	19.2 °C	30 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
5 Sept	23.1 °C	35 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
6 Sept	23.2 °C	33 %	51 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
7 Sept	22.8 °C	30 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
8 Sept	14.9 °C	45 %	20 km/h	0.3 mm	Moderate 14
9 Sept	14.8 °C	61 %	45 km/h	2.7 mm	Very low 3
10 Sept	15.3 °C	36 %	27 km/h	0.2 mm	Very low 5
11 Sept	16.7 °C	43 %	35 km/h	0.1 mm	Low 9
12 Sept	19.9 °C	31 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
13 Sept	20.0 °C	38 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
14 Sept	19.2 °C	38 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
15 Sept	18.7 °C	46 %	36 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 15
16 Sept	17.8 °C	36 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
17 Sept	17.2 °C	40 %	23 km/h	6.0 mm	Very low 1
18 Sept	15.7 °C	33 %	43 km/h	1.7 mm	Very low 4
19 Sept after	15.2 °C	42 %	32 km/h	0.3 mm	Low 6
20 Sept after	10.8 °C	59 %	21 km/h	1.6 mm	Very low 2

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 26 Jun 2024

After · 25 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 764 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 549: 37 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak764 µg/m³

Days over the guideline49 days

PM101,092 µg/m³

Optical depth9.44

WHO 15

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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 · 2,061Every 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 3 July 2024 and 18 September 2024: 78 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 9,092 hectares (90.9 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?: The fire only entered Mackenzie County (9,394 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 32.4 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, 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?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

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. 2,061 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