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Chaukune fire, 8 April 2016 Chaukune, Dhakari

Out · last detection 16 Apr 2016, 19:30 UTC

The fire started on 8 April 2016 in Chaukune, Nepal, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,979 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 12th largest in Karnali since 2016 (of 39 with a page). Number 19 in Nepal in 2016, of 47.

The power measured by the satellite is low (19.6 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
2,979ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
8 Apr 2016 – 16 Apr 2016
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
8 Apr
2016
Heat detections
139
in a single hotspot: 20 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Energy released
508MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

16 Apr 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Apr16 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

8910111213141516

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
42km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone one day 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. Chaukune where it started
    2,979 ha reached on 8 Apr
    7.8 %
  2. Dhakari
    11 ha reached on 8 Apr
    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)
8 Apr 30.3 °C 16 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
9 Apr 31.6 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
10 Apr 32.6 °C 21 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
11 Apr 30.9 °C 21 % 28 km/h 0.4 mm High 26
12 Apr 29.7 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.3 mm High 27
13 Apr 30.5 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
14 Apr 30.3 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
15 Apr 32.1 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
16 Apr 31.4 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
17 Apr after 32.0 °C 26 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
18 Apr after 29.4 °C 42 % 35 km/h 4.1 mm Very low 4
19 Apr after 31.9 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
20 Apr after 33.9 °C 22 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm High 28
21 Apr after 32.7 °C 28 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Apr after 32.9 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
23 Apr after 31.4 °C 18 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
24 Apr after 30.6 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
25 Apr after 32.0 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Apr after 32.7 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
27 Apr after 32.9 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Apr after 33.0 °C 20 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
29 Apr after 33.1 °C 20 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Apr after 31.8 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
1 May after 33.2 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Apr 2016
After · 23 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 · 139Every 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 Chaukune fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 April 2016 and 16 April 2016: 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 2,979 hectares (29.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Chaukune (2,979 ha, 7.8 %); Dhakari (11 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.9 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, class 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.