Wildfire near Fort Simpson (Jul 5)
True color
Fire (SWIR)
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.
🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire
Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.
Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).
Burning across the Northwest Territories near Fort Simpson, an active wildfire has sustained itself for 38 days since starting on July 5, 2026. Maintaining an average daily growth of approximately 1,695 hectares per day, the fire has expanded to cover 64,423 hectares, which translates to roughly 159,192 acres. Satellites have registered 33 heat detections in the past 48 hours, illustrating the extent of the heat signatures clustering nearby and tracking how far the fire has spread across the landscape.
This incident unfolds against the backdrop of the region's typical fire season, which runs from May to September. Across the wider national picture, 2,286,112 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a figure that sits 46% below the country's two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in Northwest Territories for 44 days. So far it has affected roughly 64,423 ha (159,192 acres) — about 644 km².
In the Northern Hemisphere, wildfire activity usually peaks during the warm, dry months — roughly May through October.
The bigger picture in Canada
Across Canada, roughly 2,351,339 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 45% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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Community reports
Reports from people near the fire · unverified
Not official emergency information. In an emergency, contact fire services/authorities.