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Babai fire, April 2020 Babai, Sohagpur, Pipariya

Out · last measured on 19 Apr 2020

The fire started on 11 April 2020 in Babai, India, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 59,047 hectares from heat detections, spread across 7 municipalities.

It is the 5th largest in Madhya Pradesh since 2016 (of 60 with a page). Number 2 in India in 2020, of 18.

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
59,047ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
11 Apr 2020 – 19 Apr 2020
Municipalities hit
7
subdistricts
Started on
11 Apr
2020
Danger at start
47
Very high · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

41°high
46km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 14 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 16,390 ha in 2016, 25,128 ha in 2017, 18,892 ha in 2018, 25,826 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 44,829 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Babai where it started
    21,001 ha
    34 %
  2. Sohagpur
    18,144 ha
    11 %
  3. Pipariya
    10,545 ha
    9.5 %
  4. Bankhedi
    8,676 ha
    13 %
  5. Saikheda
    647 ha
    1.4 %
  6. Budni
    357 ha
    0.6 %
  7. Udaipura
    3 ha
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS 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)
11 Apr 38.4 °C 14 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
12 Apr 40.1 °C 12 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
13 Apr 40.1 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
14 Apr 40.1 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
15 Apr 40.0 °C 14 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
16 Apr 41.1 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
17 Apr 40.4 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
18 Apr 39.5 °C 17 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
19 Apr 39.5 °C 16 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
20 Apr after 38.7 °C 14 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
21 Apr after 37.7 °C 18 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
22 Apr after 38.8 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
23 Apr after 39.9 °C 17 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
24 Apr after 38.9 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
25 Apr after 39.1 °C 15 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
26 Apr after 38.6 °C 17 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
27 Apr after 36.3 °C 27 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 50
28 Apr after 37.9 °C 20 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Apr after 38.9 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 4 Apr 2020
After · 26 Apr 2020

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

Other fires nearby

All fires in India ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Babai fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 April 2020 and 19 April 2020: 9 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 59,047 hectares (590.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 7 municipalities: Babai (21,001 ha, 34 %); Sohagpur (18,144 ha, 11 %); Pipariya (10,545 ha, 9.5 %); Bankhedi (8,676 ha, 13 %); Saikheda (647 ha, 1.4 %); Budni (357 ha, 0.6 %); Udaipura (3 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.1 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 64, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of India (geoBoundaries). 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: 112

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.

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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 112.

Where this data comes from

The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM3 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.