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Dolariya fire, March 2021 Dolariya, Hoshangabad, Seoni-Malwa

Out · last measured on 3 Apr 2021

The fire started on 23 March 2021 in Dolariya, India, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 23,270 hectares from heat detections, spread across 6 municipalities.

It is the 9th largest in Madhya Pradesh since 2016 (of 60 with a page). Number 2 in India in 2021, of 78.

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
23,270ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
12days
23 Mar 2021 – 3 Apr 2021
Municipalities hit
6
subdistricts
Started on
23 Mar
2021
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

40°high
45km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 34 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.0 mm on 11 Apr.

This area had burned before

91% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 7,452 ha in 2016, 10,887 ha in 2017, 9,059 ha in 2018, 11,963 ha in 2019, 16,722 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 21,098 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Dolariya where it started
    14,399 ha
    49 %
  2. Hoshangabad
    4,425 ha
    21 %
  3. Seoni-Malwa
    2,308 ha
    1.8 %
  4. Itarsi
    2,226 ha
    2.3 %
  5. Hoshangabad nagar
    22 ha
    0.7 %
  6. Budni
    0 ha
    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)
23 Mar 34.9 °C 30 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Mar 34.8 °C 30 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 Mar 35.9 °C 25 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
26 Mar 34.8 °C 19 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Mar 37.2 °C 20 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Mar 39.1 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Mar 40.1 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
30 Mar 39.8 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
31 Mar 39.3 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
1 Apr 37.7 °C 13 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
2 Apr 38.5 °C 13 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Apr 38.7 °C 17 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
4 Apr after 38.7 °C 13 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
5 Apr after 39.6 °C 14 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Apr after 40.6 °C 16 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
7 Apr after 40.5 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
8 Apr after 39.8 °C 16 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
9 Apr after 38.8 °C 19 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
10 Apr after 38.6 °C 20 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Apr after 37.0 °C 27 % 37 km/h 2.0 mm High 33

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 16 Mar 2021
After · 10 Apr 2021

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 Dolariya fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 March 2021 and 3 April 2021: 12 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 23,270 hectares (232.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 6 municipalities: Dolariya (14,399 ha, 49 %); Hoshangabad (4,425 ha, 21 %); Seoni-Malwa (2,308 ha, 1.8 %); Itarsi (2,226 ha, 2.3 %); Hoshangabad nagar (22 ha, 0.7 %); Budni (0 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 40.1 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 62, class Extreme.
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.

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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.