How long did the Bhander fire last?

GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 7 November 2025 and 12 December 2025: 36 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 55,435 hectares (554.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 5 municipalities: Bhander (18,069 ha, 28 %); Seondha (16,256 ha, 35 %); Indergarh (13,316 ha, 31 %); Lahar (7,717 ha, 13 %); Datia (242 ha, 0.3 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 30.4 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 20, class Moderate.

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.

IN · India · 2025-11-07 → 2025-12-12

Bhander fire, November 2025 Bhander, Seondha, Indergarh

Out · last detection 13 Dec 2025, 07:59 UTC

The fire started on 7 November 2025 in Bhander, India, and satellites saw it burning for 36 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 55,435 hectares from heat detections, spread across 5 municipalities.

It is the 6th largest in Madhya Pradesh since 2016 (of 60 with a page). Number 3 in India in 2025, of 33.

The power measured by the satellite is low (28.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area: 55,435ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 36days; 7 Nov 2025 – 12 Dec 2025
Municipalities hit: 5; subdistricts
Started on: 7 Nov; 2025
Heat detections: 1,476; in a single hotspot: 29 MW
Danger at start: 8; Low · FWI index
Energy released: 7.5GW; sum of detected power

Play back 13 Dec 2025

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 7 Nov12 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

789101113141516171819202122232425262728293012345678910111213

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

The weather it burned in

30°high

32km/h · peak gust

22%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

71% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 4,126 ha in 2016, 6,556 ha in 2017, 5,183 ha in 2018, 17,930 ha in 2019, 16,280 ha in 2020, 16,104 ha in 2021, 16,977 ha in 2022, 11,299 ha in 2023, 23,879 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 39,130 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

Bhander where it started

18,069 ha reached on 5 Nov

28 %
Seondha

16,256 ha reached on 5 Nov

35 %
Indergarh

13,316 ha reached on 6 Nov

31 %
Lahar

7,717 ha reached on 5 Nov

13 %
Datia

242 ha reached on 16 Nov

0.3 %

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)
5 Nov	30.4 °C	43 %	30 km/h	0.1 mm	Low 8
6 Nov	28.5 °C	31 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
7 Nov	27.0 °C	33 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 11
8 Nov	27.0 °C	25 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
9 Nov	27.0 °C	27 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
10 Nov	27.5 °C	28 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
11 Nov	28.0 °C	28 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
12 Nov	28.1 °C	26 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
13 Nov	28.0 °C	26 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
14 Nov	26.9 °C	22 %	21 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
15 Nov	26.4 °C	30 %	19 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
16 Nov	26.2 °C	27 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
17 Nov	26.0 °C	33 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
18 Nov	25.5 °C	39 %	13 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
19 Nov	25.3 °C	43 %	17 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
20 Nov	25.4 °C	48 %	15 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
21 Nov	25.9 °C	46 %	14 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
22 Nov	26.3 °C	40 %	16 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
23 Nov	26.4 °C	32 %	15 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
24 Nov	25.7 °C	31 %	16 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
25 Nov	25.0 °C	37 %	17 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
26 Nov	24.3 °C	40 %	16 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
27 Nov	24.6 °C	37 %	18 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
28 Nov	24.2 °C	40 %	14 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
29 Nov	25.1 °C	41 %	21 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
30 Nov	25.8 °C	43 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
1 Dec	25.6 °C	46 %	18 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
2 Dec	26.2 °C	44 %	17 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
3 Dec	25.7 °C	43 %	19 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
4 Dec	23.5 °C	30 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
5 Dec	22.8 °C	37 %	16 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
6 Dec	23.2 °C	41 %	21 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
7 Dec	24.5 °C	39 %	19 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
8 Dec	25.7 °C	35 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
9 Dec	25.9 °C	34 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
10 Dec	25.3 °C	36 %	18 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
11 Dec	25.2 °C	38 %	17 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
12 Dec	25.0 °C	40 %	14 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
13 Dec after	24.1 °C	48 %	14 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
14 Dec after	22.6 °C	54 %	16 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
15 Dec after	22.4 °C	54 %	17 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
16 Dec after	23.9 °C	44 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
17 Dec after	24.1 °C	49 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
18 Dec after	23.3 °C	50 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
19 Dec after	20.6 °C	66 %	19 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12
20 Dec after	20.4 °C	65 %	16 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 11
21 Dec after	18.7 °C	74 %	15 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 9
22 Dec after	18.8 °C	73 %	13 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
23 Dec after	24.4 °C	59 %	18 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 11
24 Dec after	21.7 °C	48 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
25 Dec after	20.5 °C	53 %	15 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
26 Dec after	20.0 °C	53 %	13 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 12

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 31 Oct 2025

After · 19 Dec 2025

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.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 14 December 2025 the air beside the fire reached 160 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 138: 9.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak160 µg/m³

Days over the guideline41 days

PM10170 µg/m³

Optical depth1.27

WHO 15

56789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930123456789101112131415

Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 1,476Every 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

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bhander fire last?: GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 7 November 2025 and 12 December 2025: 36 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 55,435 hectares (554.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 5 municipalities: Bhander (18,069 ha, 28 %); Seondha (16,256 ha, 35 %); Indergarh (13,316 ha, 31 %); Lahar (7,717 ha, 13 %); Datia (242 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 30.4 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 20, class Moderate.
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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

Your connection to the fire (optional) Email (optional)

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.

Where it burned