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CA · Canada · –

Peace River B fire, 7 June 2023 Bulkley-Nechako C, Stikine Region, Peace River B

Out · last detection 24 Sept 2023, 21:42 UTC

The fire started on 7 June 2023 in Peace River B, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 110 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 130,336 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 census subdivisions.

It is the 7th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 343 with a page). Number 20 in Canada in 2023, of 489.

Burnt area
130,336ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
110days
7 Jun 2023 – 24 Sept 2023
Census subdivisions hit
3
municipalities
Started on
7 Jun
2023
Heat detections
27,383
in a single hotspot: 2,579 MW
Danger at start
7
Low · FWI index
Average daily power
4.0GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 7 Jun24 Sept
24 Sept 2023

How it evolved, day by day

7 Jun 2023 · 848 MW · 35 8 Jun 2023 · 4,904 MW · 115 9 Jun 2023 · 1,366 MW · 176 10 Jun 2023 · 86 MW · 18 11 Jun 2023 · 17,880 MW · 571 12 Jun 2023 · 9,750 MW · 558 13 Jun 2023 · 195 MW · 45 14 Jun 2023 · 127 MW · 58 15 Jun 2023 · 9,708 MW · 171 16 Jun 2023 · 4,116 MW · 65 17 Jun 2023 · 1,094 MW · 142 18 Jun 2023 · 543 MW · 61 19 Jun 2023 · 948 MW · 68 20 Jun 2023 · 2,600 MW · 150 21 Jun 2023 · 1,592 MW · 256 22 Jun 2023 · 1,075 MW · 82 23 Jun 2023 · 4,122 MW · 277 24 Jun 2023 · 1,407 MW · 94 25 Jun 2023 · 528 MW · 57 26 Jun 2023 · 833 MW · 82 27 Jun 2023 · 2,858 MW · 96 28 Jun 2023 · 6,074 MW · 377 29 Jun 2023 · 3,164 MW · 129 30 Jun 2023 · 7,007 MW · 562 1 Jul 2023 · 1,400 MW · 300 2 Jul 2023 · 577 MW · 72 3 Jul 2023 · 1,275 MW · 237 4 Jul 2023 · 3,648 MW · 323 5 Jul 2023 · 5,283 MW · 504 6 Jul 2023 · 188 MW · 47 7 Jul 2023 · 1,628 MW · 141 8 Jul 2023 · 2,720 MW · 450 9 Jul 2023 · 3,000 MW · 521 10 Jul 2023 · 1,968 MW · 247 11 Jul 2023 · 1,488 MW · 128 12 Jul 2023 · 4,796 MW · 341 13 Jul 2023 · 2,606 MW · 516 14 Jul 2023 · 1,757 MW · 309 15 Jul 2023 · 1,900 MW · 277 16 Jul 2023 · 5,591 MW · 317 17 Jul 2023 · 42 MW · 25 19 Jul 2023 · 390 MW · 40 20 Jul 2023 · 1,072 MW · 85 21 Jul 2023 · 111 MW · 18 23 Jul 2023 · 2 MW · 1 28 Jul 2023 · 50 MW · 4 29 Jul 2023 · 92 MW · 8 30 Jul 2023 · 16 MW · 8 5 Aug 2023 · 65 MW · 5 6 Aug 2023 · 3 MW · 4 7 Aug 2023 · 1 MW · 1 10 Aug 2023 · 13 MW · 4 13 Aug 2023 · 1 MW · 1 14 Aug 2023 · 90 MW · 12 15 Aug 2023 · 25 MW · 9 16 Aug 2023 · 130 MW · 58 17 Aug 2023 · 5,571 MW · 124 18 Aug 2023 · 256 MW · 105 19 Aug 2023 · 564 MW · 61 20 Aug 2023 · 779 MW · 146 21 Aug 2023 · 7,924 MW · 407 22 Aug 2023 · 3,217 MW · 551 23 Aug 2023 · 1,597 MW · 294 24 Aug 2023 · 2,360 MW · 265 25 Aug 2023 · 2,829 MW · 422 26 Aug 2023 · 20,255 MW · 975 27 Aug 2023 · 29,918 MW · 1244 28 Aug 2023 · 19,827 MW · 1312 29 Aug 2023 · 7,436 MW · 1358 30 Aug 2023 · 1,218 MW · 441 31 Aug 2023 · 4,425 MW · 361 1 Sept 2023 · 40,270 MW · 855 2 Sept 2023 · 27,348 MW · 2317 3 Sept 2023 · 22,694 MW · 2220 4 Sept 2023 · 2,223 MW · 323 6 Sept 2023 · 304 MW · 144 7 Sept 2023 · 1,472 MW · 264 8 Sept 2023 · 1,193 MW · 234 9 Sept 2023 · 3,453 MW · 248 10 Sept 2023 · 9,617 MW · 741 11 Sept 2023 · 13,653 MW · 764 12 Sept 2023 · 1,150 MW · 419 13 Sept 2023 · 384 MW · 146 14 Sept 2023 · 579 MW · 51 15 Sept 2023 · 392 MW · 137 16 Sept 2023 · 1,957 MW · 284 17 Sept 2023 · 761 MW · 239 18 Sept 2023 · 31 MW · 20 20 Sept 2023 · 189 MW · 42 21 Sept 2023 · 95 MW · 20 22 Sept 2023 · 7,924 MW · 319 23 Sept 2023 · 972 MW · 265 24 Sept 2023 · 182 MW · 7
7 Jun 26 Jun 15 Jul 18 Aug 1 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

23°high
72km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.2 mm on 25 Sept.

This area had burned before

2% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,797 ha in 2018, 287 ha in 2021.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 82% of the area of London (1,303 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. 86,599 ha reached on 8 Jun
    3.2 %
  2. 31,089 ha reached on 9 Jun
    0.2 %
  3. Peace River B where it started
    12,236 ha reached on 7 Jun
    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 area0.53 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.53 hectares of 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)
7 Jun 18.0 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
8 Jun 23.4 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
9 Jun 21.6 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 12
10 Jun 16.5 °C 34 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
11 Jun 18.6 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
12 Jun 16.6 °C 42 % 50 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 19
13 Jun 13.8 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 15
14 Jun 12.6 °C 34 % 36 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 13
15 Jun 16.0 °C 23 % 42 km/h 2.2 mm Moderate 16
16 Jun 8.8 °C 53 % 69 km/h 4.7 mm Very low 2
17 Jun 7.7 °C 40 % 44 km/h 1.2 mm Very low 1
18 Jun 9.0 °C 51 % 55 km/h 3.6 mm Very low 2
19 Jun 13.7 °C 28 % 52 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 2
20 Jun 17.4 °C 29 % 26 km/h 3.4 mm Very low 5
21 Jun 19.2 °C 32 % 27 km/h 3.0 mm Very low 1
22 Jun 18.8 °C 43 % 27 km/h 5.2 mm Very low 1
23 Jun 19.8 °C 47 % 26 km/h 5.0 mm Very low 0
24 Jun 21.2 °C 35 % 33 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 0
25 Jun 20.4 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
26 Jun 18.7 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm Low 6
27 Jun 21.7 °C 32 % 28 km/h 1.3 mm Low 8
28 Jun 19.9 °C 38 % 41 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 5
29 Jun 15.2 °C 40 % 46 km/h 0.8 mm Low 8
30 Jun 13.1 °C 36 % 51 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 12
1 Jul 8.5 °C 64 % 52 km/h 5.3 mm Very low 0
2 Jul 10.9 °C 52 % 42 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
3 Jul 16.0 °C 43 % 29 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 1
4 Jul 19.5 °C 31 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
5 Jul 20.9 °C 32 % 22 km/h 0.1 mm Low 8
6 Jul 17.5 °C 46 % 24 km/h 3.7 mm Low 6
7 Jul 20.7 °C 38 % 28 km/h 1.8 mm Very low 1
8 Jul 22.3 °C 32 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
9 Jul 20.7 °C 47 % 23 km/h 3.6 mm Low 5
10 Jul 17.5 °C 54 % 19 km/h 3.1 mm Very low 1
11 Jul 16.9 °C 45 % 37 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 1
12 Jul 19.0 °C 35 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
13 Jul 19.8 °C 36 % 22 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 5
14 Jul 18.4 °C 44 % 26 km/h 2.1 mm Low 7
15 Jul 17.1 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 2
16 Jul 17.3 °C 41 % 28 km/h 2.2 mm Very low 5
17 Jul 12.3 °C 62 % 52 km/h 7.6 mm Very low 0
18 Jul 12.7 °C 55 % 39 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 0
19 Jul 19.4 °C 34 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
20 Jul 23.0 °C 30 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
21 Jul 18.8 °C 52 % 24 km/h 13.9 mm Very low 4
22 Jul 14.6 °C 48 % 28 km/h 2.3 mm Very low 0
23 Jul 15.0 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
24 Jul 12.8 °C 47 % 28 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 2
25 Jul 15.8 °C 47 % 30 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 4
26 Jul 12.1 °C 61 % 42 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 4
27 Jul 15.0 °C 41 % 41 km/h 3.7 mm Very low 1
28 Jul 18.3 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
29 Jul 21.0 °C 24 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
30 Jul 16.9 °C 40 % 26 km/h 1.7 mm Low 8
31 Jul 12.6 °C 66 % 25 km/h 13.8 mm Very low 0
1 Aug 15.1 °C 37 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 0
2 Aug 13.3 °C 51 % 24 km/h 5.5 mm Very low 0
3 Aug 15.7 °C 44 % 26 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
4 Aug 19.8 °C 32 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
5 Aug 22.3 °C 26 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
6 Aug 23.1 °C 27 % 19 km/h 0.9 mm Low 7
7 Aug 18.3 °C 53 % 28 km/h 4.5 mm Very low 5
8 Aug 14.3 °C 65 % 31 km/h 5.8 mm Very low 0
9 Aug 15.0 °C 55 % 44 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 0
10 Aug 14.9 °C 41 % 47 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 1
11 Aug 11.9 °C 61 % 44 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 2
12 Aug 13.9 °C 57 % 46 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 2
13 Aug 16.7 °C 55 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
14 Aug 17.0 °C 34 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
15 Aug 17.0 °C 43 % 58 km/h 1.0 mm Low 5
16 Aug 17.4 °C 49 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
17 Aug 13.5 °C 36 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
18 Aug 10.6 °C 45 % 35 km/h 0.7 mm Low 8
19 Aug 15.5 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
20 Aug 16.0 °C 35 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Low 11
21 Aug 17.5 °C 26 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
22 Aug 17.4 °C 38 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 13
23 Aug 16.4 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 14
24 Aug 17.8 °C 38 % 19 km/h 0.1 mm Low 11
25 Aug 20.3 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
26 Aug 22.1 °C 35 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
27 Aug 22.5 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
28 Aug 22.8 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
29 Aug 20.2 °C 35 % 22 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 15
30 Aug 13.5 °C 65 % 41 km/h 1.4 mm Low 7
31 Aug 16.6 °C 33 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
1 Sept 16.6 °C 44 % 65 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
2 Sept 13.7 °C 34 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
3 Sept 8.7 °C 44 % 40 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 18
4 Sept 9.7 °C 37 % 26 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 14
5 Sept 7.5 °C 55 % 28 km/h 1.8 mm Very low 3
6 Sept 10.3 °C 40 % 34 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 4
7 Sept 9.9 °C 43 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
8 Sept 14.5 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
9 Sept 16.7 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
10 Sept 18.7 °C 26 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
11 Sept 12.4 °C 27 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
12 Sept 9.1 °C 71 % 44 km/h 2.5 mm Moderate 12
13 Sept 9.9 °C 36 % 54 km/h 0.2 mm Low 7
14 Sept 12.6 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
15 Sept 14.1 °C 31 % 72 km/h 0.4 mm High 29
16 Sept 10.9 °C 36 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
17 Sept 8.3 °C 64 % 57 km/h 3.8 mm Moderate 16
18 Sept 6.8 °C 55 % 57 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 4
19 Sept 5.2 °C 61 % 28 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 0
20 Sept 10.0 °C 46 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
21 Sept 13.0 °C 50 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
22 Sept 15.7 °C 40 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
23 Sept 8.6 °C 44 % 38 km/h 3.6 mm Moderate 13
24 Sept 8.2 °C 44 % 32 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 1
25 Sept after 3.7 °C 80 % 49 km/h 7.2 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 7.2, a minimum humidity of 28% and 1 day without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 18.

FWI at the start 7.2
Minimum humidity 28 %
Days without rain 1
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Peace River B fire, April 2016
5,467 ha 52 days FWI 5.7 Min. humidity 28 % 237 km away, in 2016

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 7.0 mm on 8 Jun.

What happened to them

32 days
median duration
2,188 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
5.9 mm
rain at the end (median; 18 of 18 had it)

It was 59.6 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 110 days, against 32 days.

None of its 18 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 5.9 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

7.2 mmfirst rain
25 Septthe day after it ended
72km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 24 Sept, and on 25 Sept 7.2 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 18 of 18, with a median of 5.9 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 · 31 May 2023
After · 1 Oct 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 30 August 2023 the air beside the fire reached 984 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 500: 33 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak984 µg/m³
Days over the guideline81 days
PM101,408 µg/m³
Optical depth10.59
5 Jun28 Jun21 Jul13 Aug5 Sept
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 · 27,383Every 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 Peace River B fire last?
It burned between 7 June 2023 and 24 September 2023: 110 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 130,336 hectares (1,303.4 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire entered 3 census subdivisions: Bulkley-Nechako C (86,599 ha, 3.2 %); Stikine Region (31,089 ha, 0.2 %); Peace River B (12,236 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 23.4 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 72 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.
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: 18. Their median duration was 32 days and their median area 2,188 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. None of its 18 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 5.9 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. 27,383 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.