How long did the Pence fire last?

It burned between 30 May 2017 and 30 May 2017: 1 day, according to the start date recorded by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) and the heat detections seen by satellite.

How much area did it burn?

The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 1,239 hectares (12.4 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.

Which counties burned?

The fire only entered Owyhee (1,238 ha, 0.1 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 39.2 °C, humidity dropped to 3 % and gusts hit 88 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 97, class Very extreme.

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.

US · United States · 2017-05-30 → 2017-05-30

Pence Fire, May 2017 Owyhee

Out · last measured on 30 May 2017

The fire started on 30 May 2017 in Owyhee, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 1,239 hectares, spread across a single county.

It is the 195th largest in Idaho since 2016 (of 379 with a page). Number 342 in United States in 2017, of 619.

Burnt area: 1,239ha; official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration: 1day; 30 May 2017 – 30 May 2017
Municipalities hit: 1; counties
Started on: 30 May; 2017
Heat detections: 2; in a single hotspot: 6 MW
Danger at start: 54; Extreme · FWI index

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 30 May30 May

The weather it burned in

39°high

88km/h · peak gust

3%lowest humidity

It had gone 12 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

Owyhee where it started

1,238 ha reached on 28 Jun

0.1 %

Burnt area inside each county, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

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)
30 May	33.6 °C	6 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
31 May after	35.0 °C	9 %	52 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 70
1 Jun after	23.8 °C	34 %	47 km/h	0.5 mm	Very high 42
2 Jun after	29.1 °C	20 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
3 Jun after	34.7 °C	12 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
4 Jun after	34.0 °C	9 %	88 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 97
5 Jun after	26.4 °C	14 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 53
6 Jun after	34.5 °C	10 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
7 Jun after	37.7 °C	7 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
8 Jun after	30.6 °C	9 %	63 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 83
9 Jun after	24.3 °C	16 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 67
10 Jun after	20.3 °C	30 %	41 km/h	0.5 mm	Very high 43
11 Jun after	22.3 °C	27 %	64 km/h	3.8 mm	Moderate 20
12 Jun after	15.3 °C	55 %	42 km/h	20.7 mm	Very low 1
13 Jun after	21.3 °C	37 %	57 km/h	10.1 mm	Very low 4
14 Jun after	25.0 °C	36 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
15 Jun after	28.0 °C	33 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
16 Jun after	24.4 °C	46 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
17 Jun after	25.1 °C	32 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
18 Jun after	30.1 °C	29 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
19 Jun after	37.2 °C	12 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
20 Jun after	39.2 °C	14 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
21 Jun after	31.5 °C	14 %	52 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
22 Jun after	29.1 °C	10 %	55 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
23 Jun after	29.9 °C	11 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 49
24 Jun after	33.0 °C	7 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
25 Jun after	37.7 °C	3 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 49
26 Jun after	38.5 °C	7 %	42 km/h	0.7 mm	Extreme 68
27 Jun after	34.0 °C	14 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
28 Jun after	31.5 °C	9 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 67
29 Jun after	29.4 °C	16 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
30 Jun after	33.5 °C	9 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
1 Jul after	36.7 °C	8 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 50
2 Jul after	38.3 °C	9 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
3 Jul after	38.2 °C	14 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 65
4 Jul after	40.9 °C	7 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
5 Jul after	39.2 °C	6 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 63
6 Jul after	40.0 °C	6 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
7 Jul after	41.8 °C	8 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
8 Jul after	40.9 °C	9 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 23 May 2017

After · 6 Jun 2017

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.

Detections table · 2Every 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 United States ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Pence fire last?: It burned between 30 May 2017 and 30 May 2017: 1 day, according to the start date recorded by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) and the heat detections seen by satellite.
How much area did it burn?: The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 1,239 hectares (12.4 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?: The fire only entered Owyhee (1,238 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 39.2 °C, humidity dropped to 3 % and gusts hit 88 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 97, class Very extreme.
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

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
NIFC · Fire maps ↗

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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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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.

Where it burned