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Chawngte fire, 22 March 2019 Chawngte, Lawngtlai, S' Bungtlang

Out · last measured on 31 Mar 2019

The fire started on 22 March 2019 in Chawngte, India, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 10,625 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 5th largest in Mizoram since 2016 (of 44 with a page). Number 6 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
10,625ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
10days
22 Mar 2019 – 31 Mar 2019
Municipalities hit
3
subdistricts
Started on
22 Mar
2019
Danger at start
16
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

37°high
39km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 9.9 mm on 2 Apr.

This area had burned before

70% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,528 ha in 2016, 3,120 ha in 2017, 4,137 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 7,418 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Chawngte where it started
    9,636 ha
    15 %
  2. Lawngtlai
    538 ha
    0.6 %
  3. S' Bungtlang
    144 ha
    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)
22 Mar 34.3 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
23 Mar 34.7 °C 35 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
24 Mar 35.1 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
25 Mar 35.9 °C 22 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
26 Mar 36.8 °C 28 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
27 Mar 33.7 °C 32 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
28 Mar 34.4 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
29 Mar 35.6 °C 30 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
30 Mar 35.3 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
31 Mar 34.7 °C 43 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm High 25
1 Apr after 33.5 °C 41 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
2 Apr after 33.1 °C 46 % 36 km/h 9.9 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 15 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 22 March 2019 and 31 March 2019: 10 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 10,625 hectares (106.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Chawngte (9,636 ha, 15 %); Lawngtlai (538 ha, 0.6 %); S' Bungtlang (144 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °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
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.

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.