Skip to content
worldfires
NP · Nepal · →

Bheriganga fire, April 2016 Bheriganga, Kalimati

Out · last detection 15 Apr 2016, 19:49 UTC

The fire started on 11 April 2016 in Bheriganga, Nepal, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,568 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 20th largest in Karnali since 2016 (of 39 with a page). Number 26 in Nepal in 2016, of 47.

The power measured by the satellite is low (12.3 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
2,568ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
11 Apr 2016 – 15 Apr 2016
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
11 Apr
2016
Heat detections
88
in a single hotspot: 12 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Energy released
238MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

15 Apr 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 11 Apr15 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

1112131415

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
55km/h · peak gust
17%lowest humidity

It had gone 25 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. Bheriganga where it started
    2,474 ha reached on 9 Apr
    9.6 %
  2. Kalimati
    102 ha reached on 14 Apr
    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)
9 Apr 34.9 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
10 Apr 36.4 °C 17 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
11 Apr 36.0 °C 18 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
12 Apr 32.6 °C 26 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
13 Apr 33.6 °C 26 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
14 Apr 34.4 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
15 Apr 35.7 °C 21 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
16 Apr after 34.9 °C 28 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
17 Apr after 34.7 °C 34 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
18 Apr after 32.1 °C 32 % 44 km/h 2.2 mm Moderate 15
19 Apr after 35.1 °C 27 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 Apr after 37.4 °C 20 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
21 Apr after 36.0 °C 25 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
22 Apr after 36.7 °C 20 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 Apr after 35.3 °C 16 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
24 Apr after 34.1 °C 14 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Apr after 35.3 °C 15 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
26 Apr after 36.3 °C 14 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Apr after 36.6 °C 16 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Apr after 36.8 °C 16 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Apr after 37.1 °C 15 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
30 Apr after 35.8 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 May after 36.2 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 4 Apr 2016
After · 22 Apr 2016

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 · 88Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Nepal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bheriganga fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 April 2016 and 15 April 2016: 5 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 2,568 hectares (25.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bheriganga (2,474 ha, 9.6 %); Kalimati (102 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.4 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Nepal (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: 101

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 101.

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 (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License). 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.