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Bagrax County fire, September 2017 Bagrax County, Yanqi Hui Autonomous County

Out · last measured on 9 Sept 2017

The fire started on 7 September 2017 in Bagrax County, China, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,959 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 3th largest in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region since 2016 (of 18 with a page). Number 65 in China in 2017, of 266.

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
1,959ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
3days
7 Sept 2017 – 9 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
7 Sept
2017
Danger at start
28
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

30°high
29km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 16 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Bagrax County where it started
    1,502 ha
    0.4 %
  2. Yanqi Hui Autonomous County 焉耆回族自治县
    458 ha
    0.2 %

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)
7 Sept 29.8 °C 25 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
8 Sept 25.8 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
9 Sept 26.7 °C 27 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
10 Sept after 27.7 °C 29 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
11 Sept after 30.0 °C 22 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
12 Sept after 28.2 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm High 28
13 Sept after 26.7 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Sept after 25.6 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
15 Sept after 23.8 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
16 Sept after 26.6 °C 32 % 24 km/h 0.1 mm High 26
17 Sept after 26.2 °C 34 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
18 Sept after 28.4 °C 26 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
19 Sept after 27.6 °C 26 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 28

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 31 Aug 2017
After · 16 Sept 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.

Other fires nearby

All fires in China ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bagrax County fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 7 September 2017 and 9 September 2017: 3 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 1,959 hectares (19.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bagrax County (1,502 ha, 0.4 %); Yanqi Hui Autonomous County (458 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.8 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 29 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of China (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: 119

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 119.

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.