Rough Ridge Fire, October 2016 Fannin, Murray, Gilmer
The fire started on 16 October 2016 in Fannin, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 11,178 hectares, spread across 3 counties.
It is the 3th largest in Georgia since 2016 (of 14 with a page). Number 36 in United States in 2016, of 475.
- Burnt area
- 11,178ha
- official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
- Duration
- 1day
- 16 Oct 2016 – 16 Oct 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- counties
- Started on
- 16 Oct
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 630
- in a single hotspot: 26 MW
- Danger at start
- 22
- High · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 19 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 28 Nov.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Fannin where it started8,372 ha reached on 26 Oct8.2 %
-
2,491 ha reached on 12 Nov2.8 %
-
362 ha reached on 14 Nov0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Oct | 24.6 °C | 43 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 17 Oct after | 25.4 °C | 36 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 18 Oct after | 26.4 °C | 40 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 19 Oct after | 29.3 °C | 27 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 20 Oct after | 27.0 °C | 37 % | 36 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 25 |
| 21 Oct after | 19.1 °C | 50 % | 61 km/h | 8.0 mm | Very low 4 |
| 22 Oct after | 14.5 °C | 28 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 8 |
| 23 Oct after | 20.0 °C | 28 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 24 Oct after | 22.7 °C | 34 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 25 Oct after | 22.5 °C | 27 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 26 Oct after | 21.7 °C | 40 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 27 Oct after | 22.3 °C | 52 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 28 Oct after | 24.3 °C | 29 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 29 Oct after | 25.5 °C | 31 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 30 Oct after | 25.0 °C | 32 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 31 Oct after | 26.0 °C | 34 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 1 Nov after | 25.1 °C | 35 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 2 Nov after | 23.8 °C | 38 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 3 Nov after | 23.3 °C | 45 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 4 Nov after | 20.4 °C | 27 % | 45 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 22 |
| 5 Nov after | 19.0 °C | 32 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 6 Nov after | 19.1 °C | 29 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 7 Nov after | 20.1 °C | 20 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 8 Nov after | 16.9 °C | 28 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 9 Nov after | 14.5 °C | 38 % | 48 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 25 |
| 10 Nov after | 16.4 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 11 Nov after | 15.4 °C | 33 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 12 Nov after | 15.3 °C | 33 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 13 Nov after | 14.4 °C | 30 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 14 Nov after | 15.2 °C | 32 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 15 Nov after | 15.9 °C | 33 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 16 Nov after | 18.1 °C | 26 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 17 Nov after | 22.0 °C | 26 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 18 Nov after | 22.8 °C | 22 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 19 Nov after | 11.7 °C | 29 % | 57 km/h | 2.3 mm | Low 8 |
| 20 Nov after | 7.2 °C | 20 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 21 Nov after | 9.2 °C | 17 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 22 Nov after | 13.6 °C | 17 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 23 Nov after | 16.0 °C | 28 % | 48 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 22 |
| 24 Nov after | 16.7 °C | 69 % | 35 km/h | 0.6 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 25 Nov after | 13.1 °C | 63 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 26 Nov after | 8.8 °C | 37 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 27 Nov after | 11.2 °C | 33 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 28 Nov after | 15.2 °C | 44 % | 95 km/h | 1.3 mm | Moderate 17 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 630Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Rough Ridge fire last?
- It burned between 16 October 2016 and 16 October 2016: 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 11,178 hectares (111.8 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
- Which counties burned?
- The fire entered 3 counties: Fannin (8,372 ha, 8.2 %); Murray (2,491 ha, 2.8 %); Gilmer (362 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.3 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 61 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, class 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
- NIFC · National Interagency Fire Center ↗
- InciWeb · Incident Information System ↗
- MTBS · Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity ↗
Satellite cross-check
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.