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Stikine Region fire, 6 July 2023 Stikine Region

Out · last detection 2 Sept 2023, 12:03 UTC

The fire started on 6 July 2023 in Stikine Region, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 59 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 2,111 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 238th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 343 with a page). Number 370 in Canada in 2023, of 489.

Burnt area
2,111ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
59days
6 Jul 2023 – 2 Sept 2023
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
6 Jul
2023
Heat detections
465
in a single hotspot: 200 MW
Danger at start
17
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
304MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Jul2 Sept
2 Sept 2023

How it evolved, day by day

8 Jul 2023 · 3,332 MW · 76 9 Jul 2023 · 1,566 MW · 168 10 Jul 2023 · 912 MW · 134 12 Jul 2023 · 6 MW · 4 13 Jul 2023 · 23 MW · 12 14 Jul 2023 · 6 MW · 4 15 Jul 2023 · 3 MW · 3 16 Jul 2023 · 3 MW · 2 21 Jul 2023 · 1 MW · 1 22 Jul 2023 · 1 MW · 1 30 Jul 2023 · 19 MW · 4 31 Jul 2023 · 1 MW · 1 24 Aug 2023 · 33 MW · 4 25 Aug 2023 · 2 MW · 2 27 Aug 2023 · 134 MW · 9 28 Aug 2023 · 25 MW · 15 29 Aug 2023 · 3 MW · 4 30 Aug 2023 · 8 MW · 3 31 Aug 2023 · 32 MW · 5 1 Sept 2023 · 272 MW · 9 2 Sept 2023 · 9 MW · 4
8 Jul 14 Jul 30 Jul 28 Aug 2 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

27°high
63km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 17 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 3 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 census subdivision

  1. Stikine Region where it started
    2,212 ha reached on 8 Jul
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each census subdivision, 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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)
6 Jul 26.6 °C 26 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
7 Jul 26.8 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
8 Jul 23.2 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
9 Jul 22.6 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
10 Jul 18.9 °C 28 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
11 Jul 13.7 °C 55 % 31 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 16
12 Jul 13.8 °C 57 % 19 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 12
13 Jul 18.5 °C 50 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
14 Jul 21.3 °C 40 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
15 Jul 20.8 °C 39 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
16 Jul 19.9 °C 47 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
17 Jul 16.3 °C 62 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
18 Jul 14.6 °C 61 % 19 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 12
19 Jul 19.5 °C 45 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm Low 9
20 Jul 22.2 °C 42 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
21 Jul 18.7 °C 64 % 29 km/h 4.3 mm Low 11
22 Jul 18.1 °C 78 % 30 km/h 7.5 mm Very low 0
23 Jul 13.7 °C 80 % 30 km/h 8.2 mm Very low 0
24 Jul 16.4 °C 53 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
25 Jul 18.4 °C 51 % 24 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
26 Jul 17.1 °C 70 % 23 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 2
27 Jul 21.1 °C 51 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
28 Jul 23.7 °C 43 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Low 5
29 Jul 23.9 °C 34 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
30 Jul 23.4 °C 34 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
31 Jul 20.6 °C 57 % 30 km/h 8.5 mm Low 10
1 Aug 18.1 °C 69 % 20 km/h 12.7 mm Very low 0
2 Aug 20.3 °C 48 % 20 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 0
3 Aug 22.0 °C 45 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
4 Aug 22.3 °C 39 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
5 Aug 22.2 °C 45 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
6 Aug 23.6 °C 43 % 27 km/h 0.1 mm Low 7
7 Aug 18.6 °C 58 % 30 km/h 1.0 mm Low 6
8 Aug 16.0 °C 63 % 32 km/h 6.1 mm Very low 0
9 Aug 16.0 °C 60 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
10 Aug 15.3 °C 62 % 34 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 2
11 Aug 14.9 °C 60 % 29 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 4
12 Aug 14.9 °C 72 % 58 km/h 16.0 mm Very low 0
13 Aug 13.8 °C 59 % 60 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 0
14 Aug 12.7 °C 61 % 41 km/h 1.1 mm Very low 0
15 Aug 13.5 °C 70 % 33 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 0
16 Aug 16.1 °C 58 % 61 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 2
17 Aug 11.4 °C 65 % 36 km/h 3.3 mm Very low 1
18 Aug 16.1 °C 54 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
19 Aug 15.5 °C 53 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
20 Aug 18.2 °C 42 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
21 Aug 19.4 °C 39 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
22 Aug 21.3 °C 35 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
23 Aug 22.0 °C 38 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
24 Aug 18.4 °C 47 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
25 Aug 18.1 °C 55 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm Low 9
26 Aug 21.2 °C 53 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
27 Aug 24.5 °C 41 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
28 Aug 21.8 °C 52 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
29 Aug 19.2 °C 53 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
30 Aug 15.2 °C 57 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
31 Aug 15.6 °C 56 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
1 Sept 15.2 °C 55 % 63 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 12
2 Sept 11.3 °C 58 % 48 km/h 2.6 mm Moderate 13
3 Sept after 10.7 °C 47 % 31 km/h 1.1 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 17.3, a minimum humidity of 26% and 17 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2018: 6.

FWI at the start 17.3
Minimum humidity 26 %
Days without rain 17
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Yukon, Unorganized fire, August 2018
2,147 ha 23 days FWI 15.6 Min. humidity 29 % 38 km away, in 2018

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.4 mm on 24 Aug.

What happened to them

Fires in the area that started in similar weather: 6. With fewer than 15 we give no figures: they would be more noise than signal.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

1.1 mmfirst rain
3 Septthe day after it ended
63km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 2 Sept, and on 3 Sept 1.1 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2018.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 29 Jun 2023
After · 9 Sept 2023

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

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 28 August 2023 the air beside the fire reached 52 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 31: 2.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak52 µg/m³
Days over the guideline2 days
PM1075 µg/m³
Optical depth2.31
4 Jul17 Jul30 Jul12 Aug25 Aug
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 465Every 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 Canada

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Stikine Region fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 July 2023 to 2 September 2023 (59 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 July 2023 to 1 September 2023.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 2,111 hectares (21.1 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered Stikine Region (2,212 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 26.8 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the official burnt perimeter of Canada’s CWFIS (NBAC, Natural Resources Canada) or, for the current season and until NBAC publishes it, the one rebuilt by GWIS (Copernicus); from NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots; and from the administrative boundaries of Canada. 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. Last day with fire: 1 September 2023 → 2 September 2023.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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: NBAC (Natural Resources Canada), official.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 6 July 2023 to 1 September 2023. 465 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 2025, 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: it comes from the National Burned Area Composite (NBAC) of the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS), Natural Resources Canada, which maps it on satellite imagery and publishes it under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Until NBAC publishes the current season, this year’s fires carry the perimeter rebuilt from heat detections by GWIS (Copernicus, CC BY 4.0), which is approximate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Census subdivision boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM3 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). The area per census subdivision is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from official figures.