Skip to content
worldfires
IN · India · →

Itwa fire, 11 April 2022 Itwa, Domariyaganj, Tulsipur

Out · last measured on 18 Apr 2022

The fire started on 11 April 2022 in Itwa, India, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,014 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 22th largest in Uttar Pradesh since 2016 (of 30 with a page). Number 21 in India in 2022, 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
6,014ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
11 Apr 2022 – 18 Apr 2022
Municipalities hit
3
subdistricts
Started on
11 Apr
2022
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

41°high
48km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 44 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

86% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,452 ha in 2016, 2,030 ha in 2017, 2,318 ha in 2018, 3,797 ha in 2019, 424 ha in 2020, 2,161 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,174 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Itwa where it started
    5,843 ha
    10 %
  2. Domariyaganj
    161 ha
    0.3 %
  3. Tulsipur
    36 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)
11 Apr 35.9 °C 42 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Apr 36.9 °C 43 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
13 Apr 39.7 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 Apr 41.1 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm Extreme 63
15 Apr 40.5 °C 16 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
16 Apr 41.1 °C 16 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
17 Apr 41.1 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
18 Apr 41.2 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
19 Apr after 37.8 °C 40 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Apr after 38.0 °C 37 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Apr after 36.5 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 45
22 Apr after 39.6 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
23 Apr after 40.0 °C 16 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
24 Apr after 40.5 °C 15 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 77
25 Apr after 40.7 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
26 Apr after 41.7 °C 16 % 48 km/h 0.2 mm Extreme 70
27 Apr after 40.6 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
28 Apr after 39.3 °C 35 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 4 Apr 2022
After · 25 Apr 2022

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 11 April 2022 and 18 April 2022: 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 6,014 hectares (60.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Itwa (5,843 ha, 10 %); Domariyaganj (161 ha, 0.3 %); Tulsipur (36 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.2 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 65, 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.

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.