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Fazilka fire, November 2021 Fazilka, Jalalabad

Out · last measured on 20 Nov 2021

The fire started on 5 November 2021 in Fazilka, India, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,618 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 20th largest in Punjab since 2016 (of 33 with a page). Number 33 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
7,618ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
5 Nov 2021 – 20 Nov 2021
Municipalities hit
2
subdistricts
Started on
5 Nov
2021
Danger at start
18
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

32°high
27km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

92% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,933 ha in 2016, 3,570 ha in 2017, 385 ha in 2018, 1,111 ha in 2019, 5,392 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,993 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Fazilka where it started
    4,550 ha
    3.9 %
  2. Jalalabad
    3,097 ha
    5.4 %

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)
5 Nov 29.6 °C 31 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
6 Nov 29.2 °C 36 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
7 Nov 29.7 °C 32 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
8 Nov 30.1 °C 31 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
9 Nov 31.6 °C 28 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
10 Nov 30.8 °C 35 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
11 Nov 29.9 °C 35 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
12 Nov 30.0 °C 33 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
13 Nov 29.7 °C 23 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
14 Nov 29.2 °C 24 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
15 Nov 28.0 °C 29 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
16 Nov 27.8 °C 27 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
17 Nov 27.3 °C 30 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
18 Nov 26.4 °C 34 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
19 Nov 26.3 °C 33 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
20 Nov 26.4 °C 34 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
21 Nov after 26.7 °C 32 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
22 Nov after 27.3 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Nov after 27.9 °C 30 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
24 Nov after 28.8 °C 23 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
25 Nov after 27.5 °C 36 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
26 Nov after 26.7 °C 36 % 12 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
27 Nov after 26.5 °C 38 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
28 Nov after 25.3 °C 41 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
29 Nov after 25.1 °C 42 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
30 Nov after 25.8 °C 35 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 22

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 29 Oct 2021
After · 27 Nov 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 Fazilka fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 5 November 2021 and 20 November 2021: 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 7,618 hectares (76.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Fazilka (4,550 ha, 3.9 %); Jalalabad (3,097 ha, 5.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.6 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 27 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, 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.