Skip to content
worldfires
en
US · United States · →

Rattlesnake Point Fire, July 2017 Idaho

Out · last detection 9 Sept 2017, 09:35 UTC

The fire started on 15 July 2017 in Idaho, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 57 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 2,094 hectares, spread across a single county.

It is the 137th largest in Idaho since 2016 (of 379 with a page). Number 250 in United States in 2017, of 619.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Big Bear · 2025Elkhorn · 2023Highline · 2017Patrol Point · 2022

Burnt area
2,094ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
≈ 57days
15 Jul 2017 – 9 Sept 2017
Counties hit
1
counties
Started on
15 Jul
2017
Heat detections
596
in a single hotspot: 102 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Average daily power
82MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Jul9 Sept
9 Sept 2017

How it evolved, day by day

19 Jul 2017 · 32 MW · 2 20 Jul 2017 · 40 MW · 6 21 Jul 2017 · 256 MW · 32 22 Jul 2017 · 121 MW · 18 23 Jul 2017 · 95 MW · 17 24 Jul 2017 · 29 MW · 7 26 Jul 2017 · 13 MW · 10 3 Aug 2017 · 230 MW · 8 4 Aug 2017 · 132 MW · 21 5 Aug 2017 · 202 MW · 42 6 Aug 2017 · 333 MW · 47 7 Aug 2017 · 77 MW · 29 8 Aug 2017 · 234 MW · 51 9 Aug 2017 · 291 MW · 46 10 Aug 2017 · 135 MW · 40 11 Aug 2017 · 81 MW · 21 12 Aug 2017 · 16 MW · 8 13 Aug 2017 · 1 MW · 2 14 Aug 2017 · 14 MW · 1 15 Aug 2017 · 87 MW · 9 16 Aug 2017 · 109 MW · 16 17 Aug 2017 · 222 MW · 26 18 Aug 2017 · 209 MW · 24 19 Aug 2017 · 53 MW · 6 20 Aug 2017 · 4 MW · 4 21 Aug 2017 · 2 MW · 2 22 Aug 2017 · 18 MW · 5 23 Aug 2017 · 0 MW · 1 25 Aug 2017 · 28 MW · 2 26 Aug 2017 · 14 MW · 3 27 Aug 2017 · 22 MW · 4 28 Aug 2017 · 49 MW · 8 29 Aug 2017 · 119 MW · 9 30 Aug 2017 · 33 MW · 6 31 Aug 2017 · 51 MW · 12 1 Sept 2017 · 28 MW · 9 2 Sept 2017 · 7 MW · 6 3 Sept 2017 · 29 MW · 4 4 Sept 2017 · 96 MW · 7 5 Sept 2017 · 27 MW · 8 6 Sept 2017 · 22 MW · 6 7 Sept 2017 · 25 MW · 7 8 Sept 2017 · 4 MW · 3 9 Sept 2017 · 0 MW · 1
19 Jul 3 Aug 6 Aug 10 Aug 17 Aug 25 Aug 1 Sept 8 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

35°high
54km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.3 mm on 14 Sept.

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 1.3% of the area of London (21 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 county

  1. Idaho where it started
    2,079 ha reached on 19 Jul
    0.1 %

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 2015
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2015, 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)
15 Jul 33.2 °C 21 % 47 km/h 1.3 mm High 24
16 Jul 29.3 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
17 Jul 29.3 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm High 31
18 Jul 31.3 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 Jul 32.7 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
20 Jul 30.3 °C 19 % 54 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 39
21 Jul 30.4 °C 14 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
22 Jul 31.3 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
23 Jul 34.3 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
24 Jul 31.7 °C 17 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
25 Jul 31.6 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 39
26 Jul 31.3 °C 23 % 36 km/h 1.3 mm High 25
27 Jul 30.1 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.8 mm High 25
28 Jul 31.7 °C 24 % 25 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 20
29 Jul 33.5 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
30 Jul 33.2 °C 15 % 41 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 42
31 Jul 34.3 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
1 Aug 33.1 °C 14 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
2 Aug 34.0 °C 12 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
3 Aug 34.1 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Aug 33.2 °C 17 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Aug 29.9 °C 17 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
6 Aug 31.2 °C 14 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
7 Aug 30.5 °C 16 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
8 Aug 30.9 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
9 Aug 29.6 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
10 Aug 31.5 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
11 Aug 32.3 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
12 Aug 32.3 °C 17 % 42 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 45
13 Aug 19.5 °C 58 % 39 km/h 6.4 mm Very low 1
14 Aug 24.2 °C 33 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm Low 9
15 Aug 27.4 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
16 Aug 28.5 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
17 Aug 28.9 °C 22 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
18 Aug 31.4 °C 14 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
19 Aug 27.0 °C 23 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
20 Aug 26.3 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 Aug 29.6 °C 18 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Aug 32.3 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
23 Aug 30.1 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
24 Aug 27.7 °C 33 % 36 km/h 3.1 mm Low 8
25 Aug 29.5 °C 24 % 49 km/h 0.2 mm High 27
26 Aug 31.6 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Aug 33.5 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Aug 31.6 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Aug 34.1 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
30 Aug 29.7 °C 21 % 38 km/h 1.8 mm Moderate 20
31 Aug 28.9 °C 24 % 47 km/h 0.3 mm High 32
1 Sept 31.6 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
2 Sept 35.2 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
3 Sept 34.9 °C 11 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Sept 32.0 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
5 Sept 30.7 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
6 Sept 30.8 °C 16 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
7 Sept 31.9 °C 16 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
8 Sept 29.7 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 39
9 Sept 30.1 °C 29 % 38 km/h 2.4 mm Moderate 14
10 Sept after 27.9 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
11 Sept after 31.8 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Sept after 30.1 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Sept after 26.4 °C 28 % 47 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
14 Sept after 16.6 °C 47 % 37 km/h 5.3 mm Very low 3

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Jul 2017
After · 16 Sept 2017

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 · 596Every 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 Rattlesnake Point Fire last?
The official perimeter only gives the start date (15 July 2017). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 9 September 2017 (57 days from 15 July 2017), 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 2,094 hectares (20.9 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire only entered Idaho (2,079 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.2 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, class Very 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.

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: 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. 596 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 2015, 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.