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Unit 12 Afternoon Fire, July 2017 Jefferson

Out · last detection 18 Oct 2017, 20:24 UTC

The fire started on 9 July 2017 in Jefferson, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 102 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 709 hectares, spread across a single county.

It is the 226th largest in Texas since 2016 (of 327 with a page). Number 474 in United States in 2017, of 619.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Holdover · 2021Unit 12 Middle · 2026Unit 1 · 2022Wf Perkins Blowout · 2017

Burnt area
709ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
≈ 102days
9 Jul 2017 – 18 Oct 2017
Counties hit
1
counties
Started on
9 Jul
2017
Heat detections
3
in a single hotspot: 60 MW
Danger at start
0
Very low · FWI index
Average daily power
38MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Jul18 Oct
18 Oct 2017

How it evolved, day by day

17 Oct 2017 · 12 MW · 1 18 Oct 2017 · 66 MW · 2
17 Oct 18 Oct

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

32°high
85km/h · peak gust
33%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 31.3 mm on 20 Oct.

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 0.4% of the area of London (7.1 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. Jefferson where it started
    703 ha reached on 17 Oct
    0.3 %

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)
9 Jul 30.0 °C 70 % 25 km/h 7.9 mm Very low 0
10 Jul 27.5 °C 82 % 18 km/h 10.4 mm Very low 0
11 Jul 29.5 °C 73 % 27 km/h 4.7 mm Very low 0
12 Jul 29.8 °C 75 % 27 km/h 5.3 mm Very low 0
13 Jul 30.4 °C 70 % 24 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 0
14 Jul 29.5 °C 79 % 22 km/h 3.2 mm Very low 0
15 Jul 28.6 °C 78 % 31 km/h 23.7 mm Very low 0
16 Jul 29.1 °C 74 % 20 km/h 5.7 mm Very low 0
17 Jul 30.0 °C 73 % 23 km/h 6.6 mm Very low 0
18 Jul 30.5 °C 72 % 22 km/h 14.6 mm Very low 0
19 Jul 31.1 °C 64 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
20 Jul 31.6 °C 65 % 21 km/h 1.1 mm Very low 1
21 Jul 31.1 °C 69 % 27 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 2
22 Jul 29.4 °C 76 % 28 km/h 11.9 mm Very low 0
23 Jul 30.7 °C 74 % 32 km/h 6.7 mm Very low 0
24 Jul 30.6 °C 70 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
25 Jul 30.9 °C 69 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
26 Jul 31.0 °C 72 % 26 km/h 1.8 mm Very low 1
27 Jul 31.3 °C 66 % 24 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 1
28 Jul 31.8 °C 66 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
29 Jul 32.1 °C 66 % 35 km/h 1.5 mm Very low 3
30 Jul 31.5 °C 63 % 27 km/h 5.5 mm Very low 1
31 Jul 30.4 °C 56 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
1 Aug 30.0 °C 72 % 34 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 2
2 Aug 27.9 °C 81 % 38 km/h 8.5 mm Very low 0
3 Aug 29.7 °C 67 % 25 km/h 8.7 mm Very low 0
4 Aug 29.8 °C 71 % 20 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 0
5 Aug 29.6 °C 75 % 32 km/h 29.8 mm Very low 0
6 Aug 30.7 °C 71 % 41 km/h 2.2 mm Very low 0
7 Aug 28.8 °C 83 % 35 km/h 17.7 mm Very low 0
8 Aug 29.2 °C 85 % 34 km/h 37.2 mm Very low 0
9 Aug 29.6 °C 79 % 29 km/h 23.4 mm Very low 0
10 Aug 31.2 °C 76 % 24 km/h 8.1 mm Very low 0
11 Aug 31.1 °C 72 % 29 km/h 5.6 mm Very low 0
12 Aug 31.8 °C 69 % 25 km/h 2.4 mm Very low 0
13 Aug 31.5 °C 70 % 31 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 1
14 Aug 31.6 °C 69 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
15 Aug 30.2 °C 81 % 34 km/h 4.1 mm Very low 0
16 Aug 31.5 °C 75 % 36 km/h 2.8 mm Very low 0
17 Aug 31.4 °C 70 % 36 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 1
18 Aug 31.9 °C 75 % 24 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 0
19 Aug 32.4 °C 62 % 21 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 2
20 Aug 31.2 °C 66 % 24 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 1
21 Aug 30.6 °C 69 % 26 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 1
22 Aug 30.0 °C 71 % 23 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 2
23 Aug 29.8 °C 71 % 22 km/h 4.9 mm Very low 0
24 Aug 30.6 °C 72 % 34 km/h 5.1 mm Very low 0
25 Aug 26.6 °C 90 % 59 km/h 55.9 mm Very low 0
26 Aug 26.5 °C 89 % 61 km/h 63.8 mm Very low 0
27 Aug 26.3 °C 91 % 54 km/h 119.1 mm Very low 0
28 Aug 26.5 °C 83 % 71 km/h 121.4 mm Very low 0
29 Aug 24.6 °C 92 % 71 km/h 108.4 mm Very low 0
30 Aug 24.6 °C 84 % 85 km/h 96.5 mm Very low 0
31 Aug 31.2 °C 55 % 37 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 0
1 Sept 30.3 °C 64 % 18 km/h 0.5 mm Very low 1
2 Sept 29.8 °C 70 % 14 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
3 Sept 30.1 °C 62 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
4 Sept 29.9 °C 63 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
5 Sept 29.8 °C 67 % 19 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 2
6 Sept 28.1 °C 44 % 39 km/h 0.5 mm Low 8
7 Sept 26.6 °C 46 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
8 Sept 27.1 °C 47 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
9 Sept 27.6 °C 49 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
10 Sept 28.5 °C 47 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
11 Sept 28.3 °C 43 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
12 Sept 28.6 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
13 Sept 29.1 °C 58 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
14 Sept 29.2 °C 61 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
15 Sept 29.0 °C 62 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
16 Sept 29.7 °C 60 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
17 Sept 29.2 °C 79 % 22 km/h 0.4 mm Low 6
18 Sept 29.8 °C 76 % 26 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 4
19 Sept 30.5 °C 70 % 31 km/h 1.7 mm Very low 3
20 Sept 29.5 °C 77 % 32 km/h 5.4 mm Very low 0
21 Sept 28.6 °C 76 % 30 km/h 9.2 mm Very low 0
22 Sept 30.2 °C 63 % 24 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 1
23 Sept 29.8 °C 71 % 29 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 2
24 Sept 29.8 °C 74 % 35 km/h 1.8 mm Very low 2
25 Sept 29.2 °C 70 % 32 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 2
26 Sept 29.5 °C 65 % 26 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 4
27 Sept 30.7 °C 61 % 23 km/h 0.1 mm Low 5
28 Sept 31.3 °C 64 % 24 km/h 3.2 mm Very low 1
29 Sept 30.8 °C 56 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
30 Sept 30.3 °C 47 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
1 Oct 29.4 °C 61 % 26 km/h 0.5 mm Low 9
2 Oct 29.3 °C 68 % 39 km/h 5.5 mm Very low 3
3 Oct 27.6 °C 81 % 47 km/h 14.4 mm Very low 0
4 Oct 29.5 °C 60 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
5 Oct 28.7 °C 52 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
6 Oct 29.2 °C 49 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
7 Oct 29.4 °C 77 % 31 km/h 7.7 mm Very low 0
8 Oct 30.4 °C 66 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
9 Oct 30.4 °C 68 % 34 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 2
10 Oct 27.7 °C 68 % 27 km/h 3.5 mm Very low 1
11 Oct 28.0 °C 56 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
12 Oct 29.8 °C 61 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
13 Oct 30.1 °C 68 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
14 Oct 29.2 °C 70 % 30 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 4
15 Oct 30.0 °C 61 % 41 km/h 0.5 mm Low 8
16 Oct 24.9 °C 33 % 50 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 16
17 Oct 24.1 °C 36 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
18 Oct 25.9 °C 60 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
19 Oct after 26.2 °C 51 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
20 Oct after 24.4 °C 79 % 45 km/h 31.3 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 2 Jul 2017
After · 25 Oct 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 · 3Every 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 Unit 12 Afternoon Fire last?
The official perimeter only gives the start date (9 July 2017). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 18 October 2017 (102 days from 9 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 709 hectares (7.1 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire only entered Jefferson (703 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.4 °C, humidity dropped to 33 % and gusts hit 85 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 16, class Moderate.
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 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

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. 3 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.