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CA · Canada · –

Northern Lights County fire, June 2023 Northern Lights County

Out · last detection 25 Nov 2023, 20:39 UTC

The fire started on 24 June 2023 in Northern Lights County, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 155 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 4,597 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 95th largest in Alberta since 2016 (of 176 with a page). Number 284 in Canada in 2023, of 489.

Burnt area
4,597ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
155days
24 Jun 2023 – 25 Nov 2023
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
24 Jun
2023
Heat detections
732
in a single hotspot: 127 MW
Danger at start
17
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
620MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 24 Jun25 Nov
25 Nov 2023

How it evolved, day by day

30 Jun 2023 · 278 MW · 5 1 Jul 2023 · 531 MW · 109 2 Jul 2023 · 207 MW · 24 3 Jul 2023 · 9 MW · 2 5 Jul 2023 · 200 MW · 23 6 Jul 2023 · 45 MW · 12 7 Jul 2023 · 331 MW · 41 8 Jul 2023 · 1,567 MW · 136 9 Jul 2023 · 3,579 MW · 376 23 Aug 2023 · 1 MW · 1 25 Nov 2023 · 76 MW · 3
30 Jun 3 Jul 9 Jul

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

The weather it burned in

30°high
60km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.6 mm on 5 Dec.

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 2.9% of the area of London (46 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

  1. Northern Lights County where it started
    4,658 ha reached on 30 Jun
    0.2 %

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)
24 Jun 25.2 °C 37 % 37 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 17
25 Jun 18.8 °C 51 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
26 Jun 25.0 °C 28 % 37 km/h 2.4 mm Low 10
27 Jun 26.3 °C 30 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
28 Jun 27.9 °C 30 % 21 km/h 1.5 mm Moderate 15
29 Jun 24.6 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.9 mm Low 6
30 Jun 24.0 °C 21 % 47 km/h 1.9 mm Moderate 18
1 Jul 20.8 °C 28 % 35 km/h 4.0 mm Moderate 17
2 Jul 17.3 °C 42 % 47 km/h 0.1 mm Low 6
3 Jul 17.9 °C 52 % 39 km/h 6.0 mm Very low 4
4 Jul 23.8 °C 27 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
5 Jul 27.3 °C 26 % 39 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 13
6 Jul 23.3 °C 28 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
7 Jul 25.6 °C 26 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
8 Jul 29.2 °C 26 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
9 Jul 26.7 °C 37 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
10 Jul 18.5 °C 58 % 30 km/h 9.1 mm Very low 1
11 Jul 24.2 °C 49 % 23 km/h 4.9 mm Very low 1
12 Jul 23.1 °C 63 % 27 km/h 6.8 mm Very low 0
13 Jul 24.6 °C 34 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
14 Jul 22.4 °C 40 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
15 Jul 22.9 °C 33 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
16 Jul 21.8 °C 54 % 26 km/h 7.5 mm Low 8
17 Jul 15.9 °C 81 % 21 km/h 11.0 mm Very low 0
18 Jul 19.7 °C 66 % 18 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 0
19 Jul 20.7 °C 59 % 23 km/h 1.5 mm Very low 0
20 Jul 24.8 °C 42 % 14 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 1
21 Jul 26.0 °C 35 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
22 Jul 24.8 °C 35 % 28 km/h 0.3 mm Low 9
23 Jul 24.9 °C 22 % 26 km/h 0.3 mm Low 9
24 Jul 22.2 °C 35 % 28 km/h 14.6 mm Low 11
25 Jul 15.7 °C 82 % 31 km/h 38.7 mm Very low 0
26 Jul 15.9 °C 74 % 33 km/h 8.7 mm Very low 0
27 Jul 19.0 °C 43 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
28 Jul 21.7 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
29 Jul 23.1 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
30 Jul 23.8 °C 41 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
31 Jul 16.8 °C 65 % 29 km/h 3.4 mm Very low 2
1 Aug 17.1 °C 74 % 29 km/h 6.0 mm Very low 1
2 Aug 19.6 °C 58 % 20 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 0
3 Aug 17.1 °C 66 % 26 km/h 8.2 mm Very low 0
4 Aug 20.5 °C 51 % 28 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 0
5 Aug 23.9 °C 34 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
6 Aug 23.2 °C 50 % 24 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 3
7 Aug 21.5 °C 46 % 29 km/h 0.5 mm Low 5
8 Aug 16.1 °C 64 % 29 km/h 6.7 mm Very low 3
9 Aug 17.7 °C 78 % 25 km/h 9.1 mm Very low 0
10 Aug 14.4 °C 86 % 23 km/h 5.8 mm Very low 0
11 Aug 18.8 °C 56 % 32 km/h 4.3 mm Very low 0
12 Aug 21.8 °C 39 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 0
13 Aug 26.8 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
14 Aug 21.1 °C 29 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
15 Aug 19.3 °C 52 % 41 km/h 2.6 mm Low 8
16 Aug 22.1 °C 41 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
17 Aug 19.0 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
18 Aug 10.6 °C 56 % 39 km/h 1.1 mm Low 6
19 Aug 20.5 °C 37 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
20 Aug 22.4 °C 35 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
21 Aug 22.7 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
22 Aug 22.5 °C 33 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
23 Aug 19.7 °C 50 % 29 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 12
24 Aug 19.8 °C 48 % 20 km/h 0.1 mm Low 8
25 Aug 25.4 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
26 Aug 25.4 °C 36 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
27 Aug 26.6 °C 40 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
28 Aug 29.6 °C 33 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
29 Aug 27.7 °C 35 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
30 Aug 23.0 °C 52 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 12
31 Aug 21.3 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 17
1 Sept 25.6 °C 24 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
2 Sept 19.5 °C 27 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
3 Sept 11.7 °C 48 % 50 km/h 1.0 mm High 24
4 Sept 16.3 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
5 Sept 10.8 °C 59 % 35 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 14
6 Sept 10.6 °C 70 % 24 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 4
7 Sept 17.9 °C 37 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
8 Sept 19.0 °C 29 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
9 Sept 21.1 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
10 Sept 23.4 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
11 Sept 24.4 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
12 Sept 20.5 °C 33 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
13 Sept 14.5 °C 49 % 56 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 5
14 Sept 18.8 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
15 Sept 24.0 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
16 Sept 18.8 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
17 Sept 19.3 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
18 Sept 16.1 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.7 mm High 25
19 Sept 15.7 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 12
20 Sept 15.0 °C 43 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
21 Sept 20.4 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
22 Sept 24.6 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
23 Sept 18.6 °C 37 % 27 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 18
24 Sept 13.1 °C 58 % 31 km/h 5.6 mm Moderate 16
25 Sept 12.4 °C 58 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 0
26 Sept 17.3 °C 40 % 26 km/h 1.5 mm Very low 3
27 Sept 14.7 °C 50 % 24 km/h 1.1 mm Very low 3
28 Sept 7.4 °C 73 % 28 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 0
29 Sept 7.4 °C 69 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
30 Sept 10.5 °C 54 % 28 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 4
1 Oct 12.3 °C 43 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Low 7
2 Oct 13.1 °C 51 % 17 km/h 3.7 mm Very low 4
3 Oct 14.3 °C 36 % 30 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 2
4 Oct 7.0 °C 49 % 60 km/h 1.1 mm Low 6
5 Oct 3.5 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
6 Oct 16.6 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
7 Oct 20.1 °C 32 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
8 Oct 23.6 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
9 Oct 21.0 °C 33 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
10 Oct 15.4 °C 50 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 13
11 Oct 13.4 °C 54 % 20 km/h 2.3 mm Low 11
12 Oct 13.4 °C 64 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
13 Oct 13.1 °C 51 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
14 Oct 11.0 °C 60 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
15 Oct 14.1 °C 48 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
16 Oct 13.5 °C 44 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
17 Oct 7.1 °C 84 % 25 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 2
18 Oct 13.9 °C 46 % 37 km/h 2.2 mm Very low 4
19 Oct 14.2 °C 33 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
20 Oct 10.5 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
21 Oct -0.8 °C 59 % 35 km/h 0.4 mm Low 10
22 Oct -5.1 °C 49 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Low 7
23 Oct -6.1 °C 40 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
24 Oct -4.7 °C 40 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
25 Oct -5.2 °C 50 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
26 Oct -1.7 °C 58 % 38 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 11
27 Oct -2.1 °C 48 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
28 Oct -0.2 °C 51 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
29 Oct 0.2 °C 49 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
30 Oct -1.0 °C 65 % 31 km/h 0.7 mm Low 8
31 Oct 1.2 °C 58 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
1 Nov 2.4 °C 71 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
2 Nov -0.9 °C 78 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
3 Nov -2.5 °C 84 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
4 Nov -2.9 °C 85 % 26 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 5
5 Nov -4.1 °C 84 % 18 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 0
6 Nov -3.4 °C 82 % 16 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 0
7 Nov -0.2 °C 80 % 41 km/h 4.7 mm Very low 0
8 Nov 1.0 °C 47 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
9 Nov -1.6 °C 77 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
10 Nov 3.8 °C 50 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 2
11 Nov 3.7 °C 59 % 35 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 2
12 Nov -1.7 °C 60 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
13 Nov -5.7 °C 75 % 20 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 2
14 Nov -2.5 °C 60 % 26 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 3
15 Nov -4.7 °C 61 % 30 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 0
16 Nov -0.5 °C 58 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
17 Nov 2.3 °C 67 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
18 Nov 3.2 °C 77 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
19 Nov 0.9 °C 64 % 58 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 1
20 Nov -8.1 °C 31 % 53 km/h 1.7 mm Very low 1
21 Nov -10.3 °C 67 % 27 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
22 Nov -9.1 °C 64 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
23 Nov -2.2 °C 57 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
24 Nov 3.2 °C 57 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
25 Nov -0.6 °C 53 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
26 Nov after -0.9 °C 83 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
27 Nov after 2.6 °C 57 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
28 Nov after 1.2 °C 40 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 3
29 Nov after -0.8 °C 44 % 42 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 5
30 Nov after -6.9 °C 58 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
1 Dec after -10.2 °C 68 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
2 Dec after -12.7 °C 69 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
3 Dec after -8.4 °C 68 % 17 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 2
4 Dec after -5.6 °C 88 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
5 Dec after 1.9 °C 53 % 47 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 1

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 17.1, a minimum humidity of 37% and 1 day without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 23.

FWI at the start 17.1
Minimum humidity 37 %
Days without rain 1
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Mackenzie County fire, June 2016
2,231 ha 19 days FWI 14.5 Min. humidity 37 % 248 km away, in 2016

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.8 mm on 19 Jul.

What happened to them

20 days
median duration
4,066 ha
median area
30 %
went past 10,000 ha
7.8 mm
rain at the end (median; 22 of 23 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (4,597 ha against a median of 4,066 ha) and lasted 155 days, against 20 days.

In 1 of 23, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 7.8 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

1.6 mmfirst rain
5 Dec10 days after it ended
60km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 25 Nov, and on 5 Dec 1.6 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 22 of 23, with a median of 7.8 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 17 Jun 2023
After · 2 Dec 2023

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 25 September 2023 the air beside the fire reached 991 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 584: 39 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak991 µg/m³
Days over the guideline68 days
PM101,416 µg/m³
Optical depth8.16
22 Jun24 Jul25 Aug26 Sept28 Oct
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 · 732Every 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 Canada

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Northern Lights County fire last?
It burned between 24 June 2023 and 25 November 2023: 155 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 4,597 hectares (46.0 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Northern Lights County (4,658 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.6 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 23. Their median duration was 20 days and their median area 4,066 ha; 30 % went past 10,000 ha. In 1 of 23, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 7.8 mm.

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.

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
What do you think is wrong?

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. 732 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.