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Datong County fire, 20 February 2026 Datong County, Yanggao County

Out · last measured on 21 Feb 2026

The fire started on 20 February 2026 in Datong County, China, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,304 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 21th largest in Shanxi Province since 2016 (of 76 with a page). Number 310 in China in 2026, of 929.

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but not yet its hotspots: NASA publishes the yearly hotspot archive only once the year closes. The page picks them up automatically when they are available.

Burnt area
2,304ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
2days
20 Feb 2026 – 21 Feb 2026
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
20 Feb
2026
Danger at start
19
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

15°high
100km/h · peak gust
8%lowest humidity

It had gone 13 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

17% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 397 ha in 2019.

What happened to each town

  1. Datong County where it started
    1,480 ha
    1.0 %
  2. Yanggao County
    825 ha
    0.5 %

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)
20 Feb 15.3 °C 13 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
21 Feb 11.2 °C 8 % 100 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Feb after -0.5 °C 19 % 66 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
23 Feb after 7.8 °C 12 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
24 Feb after 11.9 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
25 Feb after 11.9 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
26 Feb after 6.6 °C 20 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm Low 10
27 Feb after 8.1 °C 44 % 22 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 5
28 Feb after 4.9 °C 60 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
1 Mar after 7.8 °C 55 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
2 Mar after 8.4 °C 55 % 38 km/h 0.3 mm Low 6
3 Mar after 5.0 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 13 Feb 2026
After · 28 Feb 2026

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 21 February 2026 the air beside the fire reached 83 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 48: 3.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak83 µg/m³
Days over the guideline7 days
PM10352 µg/m³
Optical depth0.74
18192021222324
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in China ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Datong County fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 February 2026 and 21 February 2026: 2 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 2,304 hectares (23.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Datong County (1,480 ha, 1.0 %); Yanggao County (825 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 15.3 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 100 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of China (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: 119

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 119.

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.