How long did the Windmill fire last?

It burned between 4 March 2021 and 4 March 2021: 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 11,497 hectares (115.0 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.

Which counties burned?

The fire entered 2 counties: Murray (7,916 ha, 7.2 %); Carter (3,604 ha, 1.7 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 24.3 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 67 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 13, 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.

US · United States · 2021-03-04 → 2021-03-04

Windmill Fire, March 2021 Murray, Carter

Out · last detection 5 Mar 2021, 08:27 UTC

The fire started on 4 March 2021 in Murray, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 11,497 hectares, spread across 2 counties.

It is the 11th largest in Oklahoma since 2016 (of 284 with a page). Number 47 in United States in 2021, of 385.

Burnt area: 11,497ha; official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration: 1day; 4 Mar 2021 – 4 Mar 2021
Municipalities hit: 2; counties
Started on: 4 Mar; 2021
Heat detections: 259; in a single hotspot: 99 MW
Danger at start: 3; Very low · FWI index
Energy released: 960MW; sum of detected power

Play back 5 Mar 2021

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 4 Mar4 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

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

The weather it burned in

24°high

67km/h · peak gust

18%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 7 Apr.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

Murray where it started

7,916 ha reached on 2 Mar

7.2 %
Carter

3,604 ha reached on 2 Mar

1.7 %

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)
2 Mar	16.3 °C	23 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 3
3 Mar	20.2 °C	25 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 6
4 Mar	21.9 °C	40 %	49 km/h	0.5 mm	Low 8
5 Mar after	14.3 °C	63 %	45 km/h	5.3 mm	Very low 0
6 Mar after	17.1 °C	31 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 1
7 Mar after	17.9 °C	25 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 5
8 Mar after	19.7 °C	29 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
9 Mar after	21.0 °C	42 %	66 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
10 Mar after	24.0 °C	49 %	60 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 11
11 Mar after	22.7 °C	59 %	53 km/h	0.2 mm	Low 8
12 Mar after	19.9 °C	81 %	41 km/h	1.4 mm	Very low 1
13 Mar after	21.0 °C	66 %	62 km/h	0.7 mm	Very low 3
14 Mar after	20.2 °C	19 %	58 km/h	4.6 mm	Very low 3
15 Mar after	20.1 °C	26 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
16 Mar after	24.3 °C	47 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 7
17 Mar after	19.8 °C	25 %	66 km/h	4.1 mm	Very low 3
18 Mar after	11.6 °C	48 %	57 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
19 Mar after	16.6 °C	37 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 5
20 Mar after	18.2 °C	34 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
21 Mar after	18.0 °C	43 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
22 Mar after	13.9 °C	56 %	67 km/h	37.1 mm	Very low 0
23 Mar after	18.1 °C	37 %	58 km/h	0.7 mm	Very low 1
24 Mar after	17.0 °C	45 %	36 km/h	10.6 mm	Very low 0
25 Mar after	16.2 °C	45 %	39 km/h	1.8 mm	Very low 0
26 Mar after	23.5 °C	34 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Very low 4
27 Mar after	23.9 °C	41 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 7
28 Mar after	20.2 °C	27 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 9
29 Mar after	23.6 °C	26 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
30 Mar after	22.7 °C	37 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
31 Mar after	17.3 °C	18 %	54 km/h	1.0 mm	Low 11
1 Apr after	17.5 °C	26 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
2 Apr after	18.2 °C	29 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
3 Apr after	21.2 °C	40 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
4 Apr after	20.3 °C	61 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
5 Apr after	24.7 °C	44 %	52 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 12
6 Apr after	25.3 °C	54 %	67 km/h	0.3 mm	Moderate 16
7 Apr after	21.5 °C	32 %	64 km/h	1.2 mm	Moderate 13

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 25 Feb 2021

After · 11 Mar 2021

Before After

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 · 259Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in United States ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Windmill fire last?: It burned between 4 March 2021 and 4 March 2021: 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 11,497 hectares (115.0 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?: The fire entered 2 counties: Murray (7,916 ha, 7.2 %); Carter (3,604 ha, 1.7 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 24.3 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 67 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 13, 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

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
NIFC · Fire maps ↗

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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.

Where it burned