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Karymsky District fire, 6 May 2025 Karymsky District, Shilkinsky District, Tungokochensky District

Out · last detection 26 May 2025, 04:09 UTC

The fire started on 6 May 2025 in Karymsky District, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,919 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 115th largest in Zabaykalsky Krai since 2016 (of 465 with a page). Number 64 in Russia in 2025, of 238.

Burnt area
9,919ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
21days
6 May 2025 – 26 May 2025
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
6 May
2025
Heat detections
664
in a single hotspot: 202 MW
Danger at start
13
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
401MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 May26 May
26 May 2025

How it evolved, day by day

6 May 2025 · 7 MW · 2 8 May 2025 · 503 MW · 58 9 May 2025 · 544 MW · 61 10 May 2025 · 56 MW · 32 11 May 2025 · 255 MW · 27 12 May 2025 · 360 MW · 49 13 May 2025 · 2,788 MW · 247 15 May 2025 · 102 MW · 19 16 May 2025 · 51 MW · 11 17 May 2025 · 13 MW · 3 18 May 2025 · 19 MW · 10 19 May 2025 · 1,369 MW · 78 20 May 2025 · 492 MW · 41 21 May 2025 · 89 MW · 13 22 May 2025 · 143 MW · 11 23 May 2025 · 7 MW · 1 26 May 2025 · 14 MW · 1
6 May 13 May 20 May 26 May

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

27°high
58km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.9 mm on 30 May.

This area had burned before

0% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8 ha in 2018.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 6.3% of the area of London (99 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Karymsky District where it started
    6,819 ha reached on 6 May
    0.8 %
  2. 2,913 ha reached on 8 May
    0.5 %
  3. 256 ha reached on 13 May
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
6 May 13.5 °C 16 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
7 May 11.3 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 14
8 May 12.5 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
9 May 17.4 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
10 May 21.6 °C 20 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 May 18.2 °C 20 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
12 May 20.6 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 20
13 May 13.6 °C 17 % 52 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 14
14 May 6.9 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 14
15 May 9.6 °C 18 % 58 km/h 1.3 mm Low 8
16 May 10.7 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
17 May 11.3 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 19
18 May 9.2 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
19 May 14.0 °C 17 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
20 May 15.0 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
21 May 14.7 °C 21 % 53 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
22 May 18.8 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
23 May 21.3 °C 22 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
24 May 24.4 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.6 mm High 29
25 May 25.0 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
26 May 27.3 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
27 May after 29.0 °C 14 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 May after 31.4 °C 16 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
29 May after 22.1 °C 17 % 58 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 40
30 May after 17.4 °C 23 % 47 km/h 5.9 mm High 35

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 12.9, a minimum humidity of 16% and 5 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 28.

FWI at the start 12.9
Minimum humidity 16 %
Days without rain 5
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Tungokochensky District fire, April 2025
15,552 ha 9 days FWI 13.7 Min. humidity 16 % 89 km away, in 2025

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 10.7 mm on 29 Apr.

What happened to them

9 days
median duration
5,872 ha
median area
25 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.8 mm
rain at the end (median; 27 of 28 had it)

It was 1.7 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 21 days, against 9 days.

Only 7 of its 28 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 1 of 28, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.8 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

5.9 mmfirst rain
30 May4 days after it ended
58km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 26 May, and on 30 May 5.9 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 27 of 28, with a median of 2.8 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 29 Apr 2025
After · 2 Jun 2025

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 · Copernicus

On 23 May 2025 the air beside the fire reached 902 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 483: 32 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak902 µg/m³
Days over the guideline20 days
PM10915 µg/m³
Optical depth4.03
4 May8 May12 May16 May20 May
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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)

Detections table · 664Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Russia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Karymsky District fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 May 2025 to 26 May 2025 (21 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 May 2025 to 20 May 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 9,919 hectares (99.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Karymsky District (6,819 ha, 0.8 %); Shilkinsky District (2,913 ha, 0.5 %); Tungokochensky District (256 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 27.3 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 58 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Russia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 28. Their median duration was 9 days and their median area 5,872 ha; 25 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 7 of its 28 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 1 of 28, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.8 mm.

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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 20 May 2025 → 26 May 2025.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 6 May 2025 to 20 May 2025. 664 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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 ADM2 (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.