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Chawngte fire, 16 March 2019 India

Out · last measured on 31 Mar 2019

The fire started on 16 March 2019 in Chawngte, India, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 24,940 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the largest fire in Mizoram since 2016 (of 44 with a page). The largest in India in 2019, of 28.

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
24,940ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
16 Mar 2019 – 31 Mar 2019
Municipalities hit
0
subdistricts
Started on
16 Mar
2019
Danger at start
15
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

36°high
39km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 10.2 mm on 2 Apr.

This area had burned before

69% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8,984 ha in 2016, 5,899 ha in 2017, 13,539 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 17,183 ha that had burned before.

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)
16 Mar 34.0 °C 32 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
17 Mar 33.4 °C 32 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
18 Mar 30.9 °C 42 % 33 km/h 2.5 mm Very low 5
19 Mar 32.8 °C 40 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
20 Mar 32.4 °C 44 % 25 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 13
21 Mar 32.3 °C 39 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
22 Mar 33.6 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
23 Mar 34.2 °C 35 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
24 Mar 34.5 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
25 Mar 35.4 °C 22 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
26 Mar 36.2 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
27 Mar 34.0 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
28 Mar 33.9 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
29 Mar 34.9 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
30 Mar 34.0 °C 38 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
31 Mar 34.2 °C 42 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
1 Apr after 32.3 °C 42 % 34 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 20
2 Apr after 34.4 °C 40 % 36 km/h 10.2 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Mar 2019
After · 7 Apr 2019

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 India ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Chawngte fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 March 2019 and 31 March 2019: 16 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 24,940 hectares (249.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.2 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 39 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 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

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
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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.