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Katangsky Rayon fire, 1 July 2019 Katangsky Rayon

Out · last detection 12 Aug 2019, 18:36 UTC

The fire started on 1 July 2019 in Katangsky Rayon, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 43 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 32,661 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 19th largest in Irkutsk Oblast since 2016 (of 421 with a page). Number 30 in Russia in 2019, of 610.

Burnt area
32,661ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
43days
1 Jul 2019 – 12 Aug 2019
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
1 Jul
2019
Heat detections
5,645
in a single hotspot: 273 MW
Danger at start
23
High · FWI index
Average daily power
1.0GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 1 Jul12 Aug
12 Aug 2019

How it evolved, day by day

1 Jul 2019 · 123 MW · 5 2 Jul 2019 · 38 MW · 12 3 Jul 2019 · 95 MW · 19 4 Jul 2019 · 53 MW · 17 5 Jul 2019 · 475 MW · 49 8 Jul 2019 · 110 MW · 4 9 Jul 2019 · 97 MW · 15 10 Jul 2019 · 2 MW · 2 11 Jul 2019 · 168 MW · 17 13 Jul 2019 · 87 MW · 25 14 Jul 2019 · 170 MW · 67 15 Jul 2019 · 424 MW · 75 16 Jul 2019 · 723 MW · 95 17 Jul 2019 · 1,646 MW · 174 18 Jul 2019 · 668 MW · 153 19 Jul 2019 · 1,446 MW · 173 20 Jul 2019 · 5,144 MW · 526 21 Jul 2019 · 8,294 MW · 495 22 Jul 2019 · 1,202 MW · 334 23 Jul 2019 · 10,603 MW · 511 24 Jul 2019 · 298 MW · 126 25 Jul 2019 · 172 MW · 102 26 Jul 2019 · 140 MW · 72 27 Jul 2019 · 389 MW · 150 28 Jul 2019 · 422 MW · 90 29 Jul 2019 · 142 MW · 97 30 Jul 2019 · 787 MW · 231 31 Jul 2019 · 477 MW · 171 1 Aug 2019 · 107 MW · 67 2 Aug 2019 · 199 MW · 121 3 Aug 2019 · 23 MW · 18 4 Aug 2019 · 451 MW · 177 5 Aug 2019 · 1,632 MW · 390 6 Aug 2019 · 1,200 MW · 336 7 Aug 2019 · 360 MW · 136 8 Aug 2019 · 191 MW · 76 9 Aug 2019 · 1,240 MW · 325 10 Aug 2019 · 700 MW · 185 11 Aug 2019 · 19 MW · 4 12 Aug 2019 · 6 MW · 3
1 Jul 11 Jul 23 Jul 5 Aug

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
63km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone 12 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 14 Aug.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 21% of the area of London (327 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. Katangsky Rayon where it started
    31,647 ha reached on 1 Jul
    0.2 %

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 2020
Built-up area0.24 ha
Residents≈ 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.24 hectares of built-up land and about 20 residents (GHSL 2020, 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.

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)
1 Jul 34.1 °C 27 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
2 Jul 33.4 °C 29 % 44 km/h 0.3 mm High 30
3 Jul 24.2 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
4 Jul 26.0 °C 29 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
5 Jul 29.8 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
6 Jul 29.8 °C 28 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Jul 25.2 °C 46 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
8 Jul 28.1 °C 38 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
9 Jul 29.2 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.5 mm High 24
10 Jul 28.9 °C 30 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
11 Jul 30.9 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Jul 22.8 °C 42 % 39 km/h 0.3 mm High 27
13 Jul 26.5 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
14 Jul 28.4 °C 36 % 21 km/h 0.2 mm High 26
15 Jul 27.9 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
16 Jul 30.5 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
17 Jul 31.6 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
18 Jul 24.9 °C 39 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
19 Jul 21.1 °C 28 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
20 Jul 21.0 °C 24 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Jul 24.7 °C 24 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Jul 25.9 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
23 Jul 28.0 °C 26 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
24 Jul 28.1 °C 30 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Jul 28.9 °C 36 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
26 Jul 28.0 °C 40 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
27 Jul 28.3 °C 42 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
28 Jul 28.3 °C 44 % 37 km/h 0.7 mm High 24
29 Jul 25.3 °C 40 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
30 Jul 26.4 °C 37 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
31 Jul 26.4 °C 38 % 27 km/h 0.4 mm High 24
1 Aug 23.4 °C 50 % 28 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 14
2 Aug 27.2 °C 44 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 21
3 Aug 21.2 °C 61 % 36 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 12
4 Aug 23.0 °C 34 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
5 Aug 24.0 °C 29 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
6 Aug 27.3 °C 25 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
7 Aug 26.4 °C 36 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
8 Aug 25.7 °C 37 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
9 Aug 27.7 °C 40 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
10 Aug 27.1 °C 40 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Aug 22.9 °C 60 % 23 km/h 1.6 mm Low 9
12 Aug 16.1 °C 59 % 46 km/h 2.7 mm Low 7
13 Aug after 17.6 °C 50 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
14 Aug after 20.0 °C 63 % 31 km/h 1.1 mm Low 7

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 22.8, a minimum humidity of 27% and 12 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 23.

FWI at the start 22.8
Minimum humidity 27 %
Days without rain 12
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Evenkiysky Rayon fire, August 2020
5,851 ha 15 days FWI 22.8 Min. humidity 26 % 185 km away, in 2020

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 7.1 mm on 1 Sept.

What happened to them

16 days
median duration
7,687 ha
median area
43 %
went past 10,000 ha
6.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 23 of 23 had it)

It was 4.2 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 43 days, against 16 days.

Only 1 of its 23 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. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 6.2 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

1.1 mmfirst rain
14 Aug2 days after it ended
63km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 12 Aug, and on 14 Aug 1.1 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 23 of 23, with a median of 6.2 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 · 24 Jun 2019
After · 19 Aug 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.

Detections table · 5,645Every 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 Katangsky Rayon fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 1 July 2019 to 12 August 2019 (43 days). The perimeter dates it from 8 July 2019 to 12 August 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 32,661 hectares (326.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Katangsky Rayon (31,647 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.1 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very 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: 23. Their median duration was 16 days and their median area 7,687 ha; 43 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 of its 23 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. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 6.2 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. Start date: 8 July 2019 → 1 July 2019.

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 8 July 2019 to 12 August 2019. 5,645 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 2020, 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.