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Summit Trail Fire, July 2021 Ferry

Out · last detection 16 Sept 2021, 20:36 UTC

The fire started on 13 July 2021 in Ferry, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 66 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 22,186 hectares, spread across a single county.

It is the 18th largest in Washington since 2016 (of 285 with a page). Number 29 in United States in 2021, of 385.

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Burnt area
22,186ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
66days
13 Jul 2021 – 16 Sept 2021
Municipalities hit
1
counties
Started on
13 Jul
2021
Heat detections
5,137
in a single hotspot: 531 MW
Danger at start
44
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
1.1GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Jul16 Sept
16 Sept 2021

How it evolved, day by day

13 Jul 2021 · 307 MW · 11 14 Jul 2021 · 905 MW · 24 15 Jul 2021 · 2,205 MW · 107 16 Jul 2021 · 493 MW · 83 17 Jul 2021 · 1,426 MW · 78 18 Jul 2021 · 8,676 MW · 177 19 Jul 2021 · 1,281 MW · 165 20 Jul 2021 · 781 MW · 108 21 Jul 2021 · 2,003 MW · 148 22 Jul 2021 · 1,857 MW · 141 23 Jul 2021 · 3,524 MW · 156 24 Jul 2021 · 2,888 MW · 189 25 Jul 2021 · 3,034 MW · 226 26 Jul 2021 · 5,861 MW · 366 27 Jul 2021 · 1,154 MW · 244 28 Jul 2021 · 555 MW · 168 29 Jul 2021 · 2,195 MW · 200 30 Jul 2021 · 1,547 MW · 273 31 Jul 2021 · 3,957 MW · 211 1 Aug 2021 · 1,111 MW · 102 2 Aug 2021 · 498 MW · 99 3 Aug 2021 · 684 MW · 124 4 Aug 2021 · 36 MW · 7 5 Aug 2021 · 26 MW · 20 6 Aug 2021 · 114 MW · 36 7 Aug 2021 · 12 MW · 8 8 Aug 2021 · 36 MW · 22 11 Aug 2021 · 103 MW · 16 12 Aug 2021 · 332 MW · 73 13 Aug 2021 · 75 MW · 52 14 Aug 2021 · 272 MW · 40 15 Aug 2021 · 438 MW · 85 16 Aug 2021 · 7,700 MW · 667 17 Aug 2021 · 101 MW · 49 23 Aug 2021 · 1 MW · 1 25 Aug 2021 · 3 MW · 1 27 Aug 2021 · 7 MW · 3 28 Aug 2021 · 61 MW · 24 29 Aug 2021 · 55 MW · 26 30 Aug 2021 · 187 MW · 44 31 Aug 2021 · 131 MW · 53 1 Sept 2021 · 20 MW · 13 2 Sept 2021 · 42 MW · 14 3 Sept 2021 · 86 MW · 32 4 Sept 2021 · 132 MW · 44 5 Sept 2021 · 290 MW · 69 6 Sept 2021 · 464 MW · 56 7 Sept 2021 · 220 MW · 89 8 Sept 2021 · 269 MW · 62 9 Sept 2021 · 205 MW · 75 10 Sept 2021 · 81 MW · 55 16 Sept 2021 · 3 MW · 1
13 Jul 18 Jul 21 Jul 29 Jul 6 Aug 16 Aug 31 Aug 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

36°high
55km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.8 mm on 17 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 14% of the area of London (222 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 town

  1. Ferry where it started
    22,158 ha reached on 13 Jul
    3.8 %

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)
13 Jul 35.0 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 Jul 32.7 °C 11 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
15 Jul 31.0 °C 14 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
16 Jul 27.5 °C 23 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Jul 27.2 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
18 Jul 30.6 °C 12 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
19 Jul 31.5 °C 14 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
20 Jul 29.3 °C 14 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
21 Jul 25.4 °C 14 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 Jul 25.3 °C 13 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 Jul 28.0 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
24 Jul 30.7 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Jul 32.0 °C 13 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
26 Jul 32.1 °C 12 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
27 Jul 28.9 °C 18 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
28 Jul 30.7 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
29 Jul 33.2 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
30 Jul 36.1 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
31 Jul 36.0 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Aug 26.9 °C 22 % 40 km/h 2.9 mm Low 10
2 Aug 30.6 °C 25 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
3 Aug 32.7 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 38
4 Aug 31.4 °C 17 % 32 km/h 1.0 mm High 32
5 Aug 30.1 °C 18 % 51 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 41
6 Aug 26.6 °C 31 % 53 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 39
7 Aug 23.0 °C 41 % 49 km/h 0.3 mm High 32
8 Aug 17.7 °C 51 % 40 km/h 4.5 mm Very low 5
9 Aug 25.3 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
10 Aug 29.6 °C 23 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
11 Aug 34.4 °C 15 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
12 Aug 33.0 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
13 Aug 32.1 °C 13 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
14 Aug 32.8 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
15 Aug 31.7 °C 15 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
16 Aug 28.1 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.8 mm High 37
17 Aug 19.5 °C 45 % 50 km/h 13.2 mm Very low 2
18 Aug 22.8 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.7 mm Low 7
19 Aug 23.8 °C 33 % 33 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 12
20 Aug 21.3 °C 40 % 27 km/h 12.5 mm Very low 1
21 Aug 17.8 °C 62 % 24 km/h 14.7 mm Very low 0
22 Aug 19.1 °C 42 % 55 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 2
23 Aug 17.6 °C 35 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
24 Aug 21.2 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
25 Aug 22.4 °C 26 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
26 Aug 21.3 °C 33 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
27 Aug 18.2 °C 44 % 31 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 3
28 Aug 22.4 °C 35 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
29 Aug 24.5 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
30 Aug 23.3 °C 21 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
31 Aug 16.3 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
1 Sept 17.4 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
2 Sept 20.2 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
3 Sept 22.5 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
4 Sept 23.2 °C 22 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
5 Sept 24.5 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
6 Sept 25.3 °C 19 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
7 Sept 26.7 °C 19 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
8 Sept 25.1 °C 29 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
9 Sept 25.6 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
10 Sept 18.0 °C 52 % 22 km/h 12.8 mm Very low 0
11 Sept 19.3 °C 53 % 36 km/h 4.0 mm Very low 0
12 Sept 18.7 °C 56 % 36 km/h 1.1 mm Very low 2
13 Sept 20.6 °C 33 % 22 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 5
14 Sept 18.1 °C 39 % 45 km/h 0.4 mm Low 10
15 Sept 16.9 °C 30 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
16 Sept 15.3 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
17 Sept after 10.9 °C 37 % 44 km/h 1.8 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 6 Jul 2021
After · 23 Sept 2021

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 · 5,137Every 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 Summit Trail fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 13 July 2021 to 16 September 2021 (66 days). The perimeter dates it from 13 July 2021 to 13 July 2021.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 22,186 hectares (221.9 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire only entered Ferry (22,158 ha, 3.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.1 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, class Extreme.
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.

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.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 13 July 2021 to 13 July 2021. 5,137 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.

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.