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Rice Ridge Fire, July 2017 Powell, Missoula, Lewis and Clark

Out · last detection 17 Sept 2017, 20:10 UTC

The fire started on 18 July 2017 in Powell, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 62 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 69,474 hectares, spread across 3 counties.

It is the 4th largest in Montana since 2016 (of 302 with a page). Number 7 in United States in 2017, of 619.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Monahan · 2017Dry Cabin · 2021Ursus · 2022Camp Creek · 2026

Burnt area
69,474ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
≈ 62days
18 Jul 2017 – 17 Sept 2017
Counties hit
3
counties
Started on
18 Jul
2017
Heat detections
11,938
in a single hotspot: 879 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Average daily power
2.8GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Jul17 Sept
17 Sept 2017

How it evolved, day by day

18 Jul 2017 · 44 MW · 1 19 Jul 2017 · 287 MW · 11 20 Jul 2017 · 280 MW · 21 21 Jul 2017 · 40 MW · 10 22 Jul 2017 · 33 MW · 6 23 Jul 2017 · 15 MW · 3 24 Jul 2017 · 357 MW · 19 25 Jul 2017 · 91 MW · 23 26 Jul 2017 · 570 MW · 22 27 Jul 2017 · 9 MW · 1 28 Jul 2017 · 2 MW · 3 29 Jul 2017 · 109 MW · 11 30 Jul 2017 · 294 MW · 27 31 Jul 2017 · 1,931 MW · 153 1 Aug 2017 · 2,168 MW · 174 2 Aug 2017 · 1,171 MW · 180 3 Aug 2017 · 111 MW · 55 4 Aug 2017 · 172 MW · 43 5 Aug 2017 · 138 MW · 45 6 Aug 2017 · 93 MW · 18 7 Aug 2017 · 409 MW · 40 8 Aug 2017 · 473 MW · 63 9 Aug 2017 · 171 MW · 43 10 Aug 2017 · 664 MW · 82 11 Aug 2017 · 185 MW · 38 12 Aug 2017 · 39 MW · 6 13 Aug 2017 · 22 MW · 4 15 Aug 2017 · 273 MW · 15 16 Aug 2017 · 318 MW · 47 17 Aug 2017 · 197 MW · 40 18 Aug 2017 · 4,706 MW · 106 19 Aug 2017 · 250 MW · 86 20 Aug 2017 · 21 MW · 10 21 Aug 2017 · 86 MW · 29 22 Aug 2017 · 340 MW · 57 23 Aug 2017 · 536 MW · 68 24 Aug 2017 · 178 MW · 70 25 Aug 2017 · 634 MW · 37 26 Aug 2017 · 2,953 MW · 126 27 Aug 2017 · 806 MW · 234 28 Aug 2017 · 6,616 MW · 512 29 Aug 2017 · 2,411 MW · 169 30 Aug 2017 · 661 MW · 236 31 Aug 2017 · 1,935 MW · 214 1 Sept 2017 · 4,324 MW · 422 2 Sept 2017 · 25,503 MW · 614 3 Sept 2017 · 37,593 MW · 1574 4 Sept 2017 · 18,053 MW · 2102 5 Sept 2017 · 5,131 MW · 469 6 Sept 2017 · 1,057 MW · 247 7 Sept 2017 · 4,441 MW · 355 8 Sept 2017 · 2,617 MW · 330 9 Sept 2017 · 15,503 MW · 490 10 Sept 2017 · 1,564 MW · 415 11 Sept 2017 · 3,084 MW · 279 12 Sept 2017 · 3,791 MW · 620 13 Sept 2017 · 8,999 MW · 862 17 Sept 2017 · 3 MW · 1
18 Jul 27 Jul 5 Aug 15 Aug 24 Aug 2 Sept 3 Sept 11 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

29°high
61km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.4 mm on 18 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 44% of the area of London (695 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. Powell where it started
    65,362 ha reached on 18 Jul
    11 %
  2. Missoula
    3,673 ha reached on 25 Jul
    0.5 %
  3. Lewis and Clark
    687 ha reached on 3 Sept
    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)
18 Jul 24.9 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 Jul 26.4 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
20 Jul 26.1 °C 17 % 61 km/h 0.1 mm High 38
21 Jul 23.0 °C 20 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
22 Jul 25.0 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
23 Jul 28.5 °C 19 % 47 km/h 0.2 mm High 35
24 Jul 27.4 °C 8 % 61 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 Jul 26.3 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
26 Jul 27.4 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 Jul 26.8 °C 20 % 45 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 39
28 Jul 27.1 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
29 Jul 28.3 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
30 Jul 29.0 °C 12 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
31 Jul 28.6 °C 7 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Aug 27.5 °C 9 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Aug 20.4 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.1 mm High 32
3 Aug 27.1 °C 18 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
4 Aug 25.5 °C 24 % 45 km/h 0.7 mm High 30
5 Aug 18.9 °C 43 % 31 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 13
6 Aug 23.7 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
7 Aug 25.2 °C 14 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
8 Aug 23.3 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.5 mm High 36
9 Aug 24.1 °C 23 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
10 Aug 24.8 °C 19 % 22 km/h 0.3 mm High 33
11 Aug 25.2 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Aug 26.2 °C 15 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Aug 18.2 °C 38 % 46 km/h 3.7 mm Low 6
14 Aug 17.5 °C 42 % 41 km/h 0.6 mm Low 10
15 Aug 21.2 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
16 Aug 22.1 °C 22 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
17 Aug 22.7 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
18 Aug 24.6 °C 18 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
19 Aug 20.4 °C 22 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
20 Aug 19.2 °C 22 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
21 Aug 22.6 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
22 Aug 26.5 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
23 Aug 26.5 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.1 mm High 37
24 Aug 21.8 °C 34 % 46 km/h 1.2 mm Moderate 19
25 Aug 22.0 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Aug 24.0 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Aug 27.2 °C 12 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
28 Aug 27.2 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
29 Aug 27.5 °C 16 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Aug 27.7 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
31 Aug 23.9 °C 18 % 54 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 46
1 Sept 24.5 °C 22 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
2 Sept 27.7 °C 14 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
3 Sept 27.5 °C 10 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
4 Sept 19.5 °C 29 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
5 Sept 23.7 °C 20 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
6 Sept 25.8 °C 14 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Sept 27.0 °C 15 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
8 Sept 23.8 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 38
9 Sept 24.7 °C 30 % 52 km/h 0.2 mm High 37
10 Sept 20.1 °C 32 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 Sept 23.8 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Sept 23.1 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
13 Sept 18.3 °C 30 % 61 km/h 0.6 mm High 34
14 Sept 9.9 °C 64 % 32 km/h 6.9 mm Very low 0
15 Sept 2.9 °C 63 % 51 km/h 9.0 mm Very low 0
16 Sept 7.9 °C 46 % 36 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
17 Sept 12.9 °C 28 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
18 Sept after 7.9 °C 50 % 46 km/h 7.4 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 Jul 2017
After · 24 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 · 11,938Every 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 Rice Ridge Fire last?
The official perimeter only gives the start date (24 July 2017). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 17 September 2017 (62 days from 18 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 69,474 hectares (694.7 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire entered 3 counties: Powell (65,362 ha, 11 %); Missoula (3,673 ha, 0.5 %); Lewis and Clark (687 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.0 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 61 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 · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Start date: 19 July 2017 → 18 July 2017.

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
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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. 11,938 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.