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Moraine Fire, August 2020 Tulare, Fresno

Out · last detection 5 Nov 2020, 20:39 UTC

The fire started on 21 August 2020 in Tulare, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 77 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 487 hectares, spread across 2 counties.

It is the 403th largest in California since 2016 (of 442 with a page). Number 404 in United States in 2020, of 441.

Compare with…

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Burnt area
487ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
≈ 77days
21 Aug 2020 – 5 Nov 2020
Counties hit
2
counties
Started on
21 Aug
2020
Heat detections
278
in a single hotspot: 94 MW
Danger at start
23
High · FWI index
Average daily power
46MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Aug5 Nov
5 Nov 2020

How it evolved, day by day

26 Aug 2020 · 59 MW · 6 27 Aug 2020 · 26 MW · 6 28 Aug 2020 · 1 MW · 1 29 Aug 2020 · 33 MW · 6 30 Aug 2020 · 142 MW · 12 31 Aug 2020 · 419 MW · 23 1 Sept 2020 · 270 MW · 16 2 Sept 2020 · 70 MW · 9 3 Sept 2020 · 88 MW · 12 4 Sept 2020 · 117 MW · 14 5 Sept 2020 · 81 MW · 10 6 Sept 2020 · 210 MW · 14 7 Sept 2020 · 45 MW · 10 12 Sept 2020 · 43 MW · 4 13 Sept 2020 · 35 MW · 9 14 Sept 2020 · 13 MW · 7 15 Sept 2020 · 1 MW · 1 16 Sept 2020 · 1 MW · 1 17 Sept 2020 · 16 MW · 4 25 Sept 2020 · 5 MW · 2 26 Sept 2020 · 1 MW · 1 27 Sept 2020 · 6 MW · 2 30 Sept 2020 · 1 MW · 1 1 Oct 2020 · 1 MW · 1 2 Oct 2020 · 25 MW · 5 3 Oct 2020 · 20 MW · 6 4 Oct 2020 · 1 MW · 1 6 Oct 2020 · 1 MW · 1 7 Oct 2020 · 1 MW · 1 8 Oct 2020 · 2 MW · 1 13 Oct 2020 · 1 MW · 1 15 Oct 2020 · 3 MW · 2 16 Oct 2020 · 11 MW · 2 17 Oct 2020 · 47 MW · 6 18 Oct 2020 · 60 MW · 9 19 Oct 2020 · 83 MW · 13 20 Oct 2020 · 40 MW · 10 21 Oct 2020 · 3 MW · 4 22 Oct 2020 · 1 MW · 1 23 Oct 2020 · 1 MW · 1 26 Oct 2020 · 3 MW · 1 27 Oct 2020 · 58 MW · 7 28 Oct 2020 · 56 MW · 11 29 Oct 2020 · 26 MW · 8 30 Oct 2020 · 29 MW · 4 31 Oct 2020 · 11 MW · 2 3 Nov 2020 · 3 MW · 3 5 Nov 2020 · 32 MW · 6
26 Aug 31 Aug 2 Sept 13 Sept 27 Sept 7 Oct 19 Oct 28 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

25°high
58km/h · peak gust
2%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.8 mm on 6 Nov.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each county

  1. Tulare where it started
    454 ha reached on 26 Aug
    0.0 %
  2. Fresno
    34 ha reached on 29 Oct
    0.0 %

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)
21 Aug 21.2 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm High 23
22 Aug 21.4 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
23 Aug 20.9 °C 24 % 32 km/h 4.3 mm Very low 3
24 Aug 19.1 °C 42 % 40 km/h 5.7 mm Very low 1
25 Aug 20.9 °C 25 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Low 5
26 Aug 20.7 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
27 Aug 20.3 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
28 Aug 21.0 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
29 Aug 20.4 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
30 Aug 20.9 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
31 Aug 20.2 °C 22 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
1 Sept 21.0 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
2 Sept 22.2 °C 16 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
3 Sept 24.1 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
4 Sept 25.2 °C 10 % 43 km/h 0.2 mm High 27
5 Sept 24.5 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
6 Sept 23.0 °C 13 % 37 km/h 1.2 mm Moderate 20
7 Sept 21.6 °C 10 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
8 Sept 18.5 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
9 Sept 16.7 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
10 Sept 14.0 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
11 Sept 15.2 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
12 Sept 17.8 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
13 Sept 19.4 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
14 Sept 18.6 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
15 Sept 18.5 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
16 Sept 19.4 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
17 Sept 19.3 °C 11 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
18 Sept 14.3 °C 18 % 55 km/h 2.7 mm Low 6
19 Sept 17.6 °C 14 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
20 Sept 18.5 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
21 Sept 18.1 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
22 Sept 18.5 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Sept 20.3 °C 15 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
24 Sept 20.6 °C 9 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
25 Sept 20.8 °C 10 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
26 Sept 20.9 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Sept 19.4 °C 22 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
28 Sept 18.0 °C 14 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
29 Sept 19.6 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
30 Sept 19.1 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
1 Oct 19.6 °C 9 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
2 Oct 20.0 °C 8 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
3 Oct 19.6 °C 9 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
4 Oct 19.7 °C 9 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
5 Oct 19.4 °C 6 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
6 Oct 18.4 °C 10 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Oct 16.9 °C 16 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
8 Oct 14.5 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
9 Oct 15.0 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
10 Oct 13.7 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Oct 16.5 °C 22 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
12 Oct 18.3 °C 14 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
13 Oct 18.7 °C 6 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
14 Oct 20.4 °C 10 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
15 Oct 18.4 °C 14 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
16 Oct 16.9 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
17 Oct 18.9 °C 12 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Oct 17.8 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Oct 18.1 °C 9 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
20 Oct 17.1 °C 14 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
21 Oct 16.3 °C 12 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
22 Oct 15.6 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Oct 14.0 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Oct 12.4 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Oct 7.8 °C 29 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
26 Oct 3.0 °C 5 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Oct 11.0 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
28 Oct 14.4 °C 2 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
29 Oct 12.5 °C 6 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
30 Oct 12.3 °C 7 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
31 Oct 14.2 °C 5 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
1 Nov 13.0 °C 10 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
2 Nov 11.7 °C 22 % 27 km/h 2.0 mm Low 6
3 Nov 12.0 °C 20 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
4 Nov 14.1 °C 20 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
5 Nov 14.0 °C 14 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
6 Nov after 9.5 °C 14 % 57 km/h 2.8 mm Low 6

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 14 Aug 2020
After · 12 Nov 2020

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 · 278Every 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 Moraine Fire last?
The official perimeter only gives the start date (21 August 2020). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 5 November 2020 (77 days from 21 August 2020), 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 487 hectares (4.9 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire entered 2 counties: Tulare (454 ha, 0.0 %); Fresno (34 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 25.2 °C, humidity dropped to 2 % and gusts hit 58 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, class 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.

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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. 278 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.