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Kasipet fire, March 2021 Kasipet, Dandepally, Tiryani

Out · last measured on 8 Mar 2021

The fire started on 3 March 2021 in Kasipet, India, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,887 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.

It is the 11th largest in Telangāna since 2016 (of 16 with a page). Number 59 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
5,887ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
3 Mar 2021 – 8 Mar 2021
Municipalities hit
4
subdistricts
Started on
3 Mar
2021
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

35°high
24km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 55 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

35% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 800 ha in 2016, 1,271 ha in 2017, 353 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,044 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Kasipet where it started
    3,960 ha
    12 %
  2. Dandepally
    1,407 ha
    8.2 %
  3. Tiryani
    406 ha
    0.7 %
  4. Luxettipet
    144 ha
    1.1 %

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)
3 Mar 34.0 °C 21 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
4 Mar 34.3 °C 18 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Mar 34.6 °C 25 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
6 Mar 34.2 °C 22 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
7 Mar 34.6 °C 25 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
8 Mar 34.2 °C 31 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
9 Mar after 33.5 °C 34 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
10 Mar after 33.7 °C 35 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Mar after 33.3 °C 33 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
12 Mar after 33.1 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
13 Mar after 32.5 °C 38 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
14 Mar after 33.2 °C 32 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Mar after 34.2 °C 28 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
16 Mar after 34.6 °C 33 % 13 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
17 Mar after 34.4 °C 30 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Mar after 32.6 °C 36 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 30

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Feb 2021
After · 15 Mar 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.

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kasipet fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 March 2021 and 8 March 2021: 6 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 5,887 hectares (58.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 4 municipalities: Kasipet (3,960 ha, 12 %); Dandepally (1,407 ha, 8.2 %); Tiryani (406 ha, 0.7 %); Luxettipet (144 ha, 1.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 24 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, 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.