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Znamensky District fire, 27 April 2023 Znamensky District, Bolsheukovsky District

Out · last detection 22 May 2023, 08:55 UTC

The fire started on 27 April 2023 in Znamensky District, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 26 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 38,591 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 4th largest in Omsk Oblast since 2016 (of 148 with a page). Number 12 in Russia in 2023, of 450.

Burnt area
38,591ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
26days
27 Apr 2023 – 22 May 2023
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
27 Apr
2023
Heat detections
2,915
in a single hotspot: 119 MW
Danger at start
21
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
791MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Apr22 May
22 May 2023

How it evolved, day by day

27 Apr 2023 · 6 MW · 3 28 Apr 2023 · 240 MW · 23 29 Apr 2023 · 159 MW · 39 1 May 2023 · 190 MW · 38 2 May 2023 · 326 MW · 55 3 May 2023 · 2,719 MW · 239 4 May 2023 · 2,628 MW · 443 5 May 2023 · 1,233 MW · 238 6 May 2023 · 1,643 MW · 238 7 May 2023 · 2,463 MW · 428 8 May 2023 · 1,514 MW · 220 9 May 2023 · 1,321 MW · 161 10 May 2023 · 740 MW · 114 11 May 2023 · 473 MW · 72 12 May 2023 · 450 MW · 56 13 May 2023 · 668 MW · 84 14 May 2023 · 925 MW · 122 15 May 2023 · 180 MW · 46 16 May 2023 · 405 MW · 66 17 May 2023 · 269 MW · 48 18 May 2023 · 599 MW · 64 19 May 2023 · 178 MW · 39 20 May 2023 · 114 MW · 36 21 May 2023 · 320 MW · 38 22 May 2023 · 13 MW · 5
27 Apr 3 May 8 May 13 May 18 May

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

The weather it burned in

28°high
67km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.5 mm on 29 May.

This area had burned before

24% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 18 ha in 2017, 253 ha in 2018, 3,042 ha in 2020, 5,254 ha in 2021, 1,605 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 9,308 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 24% of the area of London (386 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Znamensky District where it started
    30,868 ha reached on 28 Apr
    8.4 %
  2. 7,464 ha reached on 27 Apr
    0.8 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
27 Apr 24.4 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
28 Apr 21.3 °C 29 % 67 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
29 Apr 9.4 °C 25 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
30 Apr 4.4 °C 44 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
1 May 8.4 °C 29 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
2 May 13.3 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
3 May 17.3 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
4 May 25.1 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
5 May 25.1 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
6 May 26.2 °C 11 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
7 May 28.0 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
8 May 19.6 °C 18 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
9 May 9.2 °C 28 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
10 May 13.8 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
11 May 16.7 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
12 May 10.2 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
13 May 13.3 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
14 May 17.4 °C 20 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
15 May 14.2 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
16 May 17.1 °C 29 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 May 12.2 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
18 May 15.7 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
19 May 20.7 °C 19 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
20 May 22.7 °C 19 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 May 25.2 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 May 25.5 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
23 May after 23.7 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
24 May after 25.0 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 May after 17.6 °C 42 % 41 km/h 0.6 mm High 27
26 May after 21.6 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
27 May after 21.0 °C 22 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
28 May after 22.7 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
29 May after 21.3 °C 46 % 18 km/h 1.5 mm High 23

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 20.9, a minimum humidity of 22% and 2 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2018: 30.

FWI at the start 20.9
Minimum humidity 22 %
Days without rain 2
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Bolsheukovsky District fire, May 2020
13,998 ha 9 days FWI 20.9 Min. humidity 21 % 32 km away, in 2020

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.2 mm on 15 May.

What happened to them

5 days
median duration
4,783 ha
median area
20 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 30 of 30 had it)

It was 8.1 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 26 days, against 5 days.

Only 1 of its 30 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 2.4 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

1.5 mmfirst rain
29 May7 days after it ended
67km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 22 May, and on 29 May 1.5 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 30 of 30, with a median of 2.4 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2018.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 20 Apr 2023
After · 29 May 2023

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 9 May 2023 the air beside the fire reached 264 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 65: 4.3 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak264 µg/m³
Days over the guideline19 days
PM10377 µg/m³
Optical depth1.95
26 Apr2 May8 May14 May20 May
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 · 2,915Every 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 Russia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Znamensky District fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 27 April 2023 to 22 May 2023 (26 days). The perimeter dates it from 28 April 2023 to 22 May 2023.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 38,591 hectares (385.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Znamensky District (30,868 ha, 8.4 %); Bolsheukovsky District (7,464 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.0 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 67 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Russia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2018 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 30. Their median duration was 5 days and their median area 4,783 ha; 20 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 of its 30 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 2.4 mm.

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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Start date: 28 April 2023 → 27 April 2023.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 3 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 28 April 2023 to 22 May 2023. 2,915 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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 ADM2 (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.