Haflong fire, April 2023 Haflong, Kebai Khelma, Athibung
The fire started on 7 April 2023 in Haflong, India, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,240 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 9th largest in Assam since 2016 (of 12 with a page). Number 23 in India in 2023, of 23.
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
- 5,240ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 7 Apr 2023 – 14 Apr 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- subdistricts
- Started on
- 7 Apr
- 2023
- Danger at start
- 8
- Low · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.5 mm on 16 Apr.
This area had burned before
90% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,035 ha in 2016, 2,071 ha in 2017, 1,003 ha in 2018, 316 ha in 2019, 2,049 ha in 2020, 3,136 ha in 2021, 2,026 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,728 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Haflong where it started3,243 ha0.7 %
-
2,019 ha12 %
-
2 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Apr | 31.7 °C | 37 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 8 |
| 8 Apr | 32.2 °C | 45 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 9 Apr | 33.4 °C | 43 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 10 Apr | 34.5 °C | 32 % | 42 km/h | 0.4 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 11 Apr | 34.5 °C | 32 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 12 Apr | 34.2 °C | 35 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 13 Apr | 34.2 °C | 37 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 14 Apr | 35.1 °C | 36 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 15 Apr after | 35.4 °C | 39 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 16 Apr after | 36.1 °C | 44 % | 31 km/h | 1.5 mm | Low 10 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · CopernicusOn 11 April 2023 the air beside the fire reached 128 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 74: 4.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Haflong fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 7 April 2023 and 14 April 2023: 8 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 5,240 hectares (52.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Haflong (3,243 ha, 0.7 %); Kebai Khelma (2,019 ha, 12 %); Athibung (2 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.1 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 18, class Moderate.
- 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
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.