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Itwa fire, April 2019 Itwa, Domariyaganj, Utraula

Out · last measured on 25 Apr 2019

The fire started on 14 April 2019 in Itwa, India, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 19,834 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 3th largest in Uttar Pradesh since 2016 (of 30 with a page). Number 3 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
19,834ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
12days
14 Apr 2019 – 25 Apr 2019
Municipalities hit
3
subdistricts
Started on
14 Apr
2019
Danger at start
40
Very high · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

39°high
45km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 1 May.

This area had burned before

80% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8,263 ha in 2016, 7,875 ha in 2017, 10,716 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 15,795 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Itwa where it started
    16,224 ha
    29 %
  2. Domariyaganj
    3,691 ha
    6.6 %
  3. Utraula
    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)
14 Apr 39.4 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Apr 39.1 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Apr 35.0 °C 45 % 41 km/h 12.3 mm Low 7
17 Apr 29.3 °C 43 % 45 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 18
18 Apr 34.1 °C 31 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
19 Apr 35.7 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
20 Apr 36.5 °C 23 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
21 Apr 37.4 °C 26 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
22 Apr 35.7 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.6 mm High 30
23 Apr 34.7 °C 39 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Apr 37.4 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
25 Apr 38.7 °C 36 % 31 km/h 0.8 mm High 25
26 Apr after 40.2 °C 22 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 Apr after 40.3 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
28 Apr after 40.4 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
29 Apr after 39.6 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
30 Apr after 40.2 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 May after 40.6 °C 34 % 38 km/h 1.2 mm Very high 39

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Apr 2019
After · 2 May 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 Itwa fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 April 2019 and 25 April 2019: 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 19,834 hectares (198.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Itwa (16,224 ha, 29 %); Domariyaganj (3,691 ha, 6.6 %); Utraula (0 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.4 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very 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.