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Squaw Fire, July 2019 Yakima, Kittitas

Out · last measured on 19 Jul 2019

The fire started on 19 July 2019 in Yakima, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 1,229 hectares, spread across 2 counties.

It is the 180th largest in Washington since 2016 (of 285 with a page). Number 180 in United States in 2019, of 367.

We have the official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC) for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by county is there.

Burnt area
1,229ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
1day
19 Jul 2019 – 19 Jul 2019
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
19 Jul
2019
Danger at start
42
Very high · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

24°high
47km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone 27 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

85% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,047 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Yakima where it started
    788 ha
    0.1 %
  2. Kittitas
    434 ha
    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)
19 Jul 24.2 °C 16 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Jul after 27.4 °C 10 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Jul after 30.6 °C 9 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
22 Jul after 34.2 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
23 Jul after 33.6 °C 13 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
24 Jul after 26.9 °C 16 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
25 Jul after 31.7 °C 9 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Jul after 34.9 °C 10 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
27 Jul after 29.2 °C 18 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
28 Jul after 28.5 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
29 Jul after 31.4 °C 14 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Jul 2019
After · 26 Jul 2019

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Other fires nearby

All fires in United States ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Squaw fire last?
It burned between 19 July 2019 and 19 July 2019: 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 1,229 hectares (12.3 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire entered 2 counties: Yakima (788 ha, 0.1 %); Kittitas (434 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 24.2 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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

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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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.

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.