How long did the Plateau fire last?

It burned between 22 July 2018 and 22 July 2018: 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 7,995 hectares (80.0 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.

Which counties burned?

The fire entered 2 counties: Montezuma (5,493 ha, 1.0 %); Dolores (2,516 ha, 0.9 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 30.8 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, class 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 · 2018-07-22 → 2018-07-22

Plateau Fire, July 2018 Montezuma, Dolores

Out · last measured on 22 Jul 2018

The fire started on 22 July 2018 in Montezuma, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 7,995 hectares, spread across 2 counties.

It is the 21th largest in Colorado since 2016 (of 167 with a page). Number 79 in United States in 2018, of 511.

Burnt area: 7,995ha; official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration: 1day; 22 Jul 2018 – 22 Jul 2018
Municipalities hit: 2; counties
Started on: 22 Jul; 2018
Heat detections: 891; in a single hotspot: 149 MW
Danger at start: 28; High · FWI index

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Jul22 Jul

The weather it burned in

31°high

50km/h · peak gust

9%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.0 mm on 21 Aug.

This area had burned before

1% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 117 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

Montezuma where it started

5,493 ha reached on 31 Jul

1.0 %
Dolores

2,516 ha reached on 24 Jul

0.9 %

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)
22 Jul	29.5 °C	20 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
23 Jul after	30.8 °C	18 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
24 Jul after	29.0 °C	19 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
25 Jul after	28.1 °C	24 %	39 km/h	0.3 mm	High 33
26 Jul after	29.3 °C	17 %	35 km/h	0.5 mm	High 31
27 Jul after	26.9 °C	24 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
28 Jul after	26.0 °C	23 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
29 Jul after	28.0 °C	18 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
30 Jul after	29.4 °C	9 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
31 Jul after	28.9 °C	17 %	39 km/h	0.4 mm	Very high 43
1 Aug after	27.7 °C	14 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
2 Aug after	28.4 °C	17 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
3 Aug after	22.7 °C	38 %	41 km/h	1.4 mm	Moderate 15
4 Aug after	28.2 °C	17 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
5 Aug after	28.2 °C	19 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
6 Aug after	29.4 °C	9 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
7 Aug after	29.8 °C	9 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
8 Aug after	28.9 °C	9 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
9 Aug after	27.6 °C	16 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
10 Aug after	26.4 °C	25 %	41 km/h	2.2 mm	Moderate 18
11 Aug after	26.6 °C	21 %	30 km/h	0.3 mm	High 30
12 Aug after	27.8 °C	19 %	37 km/h	0.4 mm	High 36
13 Aug after	28.5 °C	15 %	40 km/h	0.7 mm	High 36
14 Aug after	28.7 °C	16 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
15 Aug after	26.1 °C	19 %	40 km/h	0.1 mm	Very high 39
16 Aug after	26.3 °C	25 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
17 Aug after	25.1 °C	26 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
18 Aug after	26.0 °C	15 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
19 Aug after	26.9 °C	14 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
20 Aug after	26.8 °C	15 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
21 Aug after	24.8 °C	25 %	47 km/h	2.0 mm	Moderate 19

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 15 Jul 2018

After · 29 Jul 2018

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 · 891Every 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

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Frequently asked questions

How long did the Plateau fire last?: It burned between 22 July 2018 and 22 July 2018: 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 7,995 hectares (80.0 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?: The fire entered 2 counties: Montezuma (5,493 ha, 1.0 %); Dolores (2,516 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 30.8 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, class 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 ↗

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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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