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Katangsky Rayon fire, 21 June 2021 Katangsky Rayon

Out · last detection 13 Aug 2021, 04:23 UTC

The fire started on 21 June 2021 in Katangsky Rayon, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 54 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 58,706 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 3th largest in Irkutsk Oblast since 2016 (of 421 with a page). Number 24 in Russia in 2021, of 581.

Burnt area
58,706ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
54days
21 Jun 2021 – 13 Aug 2021
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
21 Jun
2021
Heat detections
13,544
in a single hotspot: 617 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Average daily power
2.3GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Jun13 Aug
13 Aug 2021

How it evolved, day by day

21 Jun 2021 · 4 MW · 6 22 Jun 2021 · 519 MW · 30 23 Jun 2021 · 17 MW · 9 24 Jun 2021 · 1,514 MW · 65 26 Jun 2021 · 148 MW · 11 27 Jun 2021 · 110 MW · 41 28 Jun 2021 · 759 MW · 15 29 Jun 2021 · 309 MW · 53 30 Jun 2021 · 910 MW · 79 1 Jul 2021 · 551 MW · 52 4 Jul 2021 · 208 MW · 73 5 Jul 2021 · 3,326 MW · 182 6 Jul 2021 · 8,699 MW · 472 7 Jul 2021 · 4,827 MW · 156 8 Jul 2021 · 50 MW · 28 9 Jul 2021 · 617 MW · 125 10 Jul 2021 · 201 MW · 20 11 Jul 2021 · 57 MW · 8 12 Jul 2021 · 146 MW · 29 13 Jul 2021 · 101 MW · 47 14 Jul 2021 · 1,583 MW · 107 15 Jul 2021 · 114 MW · 44 16 Jul 2021 · 708 MW · 94 17 Jul 2021 · 210 MW · 53 18 Jul 2021 · 21 MW · 16 19 Jul 2021 · 193 MW · 79 20 Jul 2021 · 517 MW · 61 22 Jul 2021 · 17 MW · 11 23 Jul 2021 · 1,399 MW · 241 24 Jul 2021 · 2,095 MW · 465 25 Jul 2021 · 5,036 MW · 577 26 Jul 2021 · 3,920 MW · 443 27 Jul 2021 · 5,823 MW · 770 28 Jul 2021 · 2,408 MW · 488 29 Jul 2021 · 2,248 MW · 498 30 Jul 2021 · 6,153 MW · 712 31 Jul 2021 · 10,074 MW · 1076 1 Aug 2021 · 17,342 MW · 1193 2 Aug 2021 · 9 MW · 1 3 Aug 2021 · 1,169 MW · 96 4 Aug 2021 · 16 MW · 16 5 Aug 2021 · 24 MW · 5 6 Aug 2021 · 385 MW · 132 7 Aug 2021 · 1,330 MW · 372 8 Aug 2021 · 8,825 MW · 1137 9 Aug 2021 · 3,368 MW · 704 10 Aug 2021 · 11,208 MW · 1210 11 Aug 2021 · 2,788 MW · 612 12 Aug 2021 · 4,776 MW · 800 13 Aug 2021 · 155 MW · 30
21 Jun 4 Jul 14 Jul 25 Jul 1 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
55km/h · peak gust
25%lowest humidity

It had gone 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 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 37% of the area of London (587 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
    61,849 ha reached on 21 Jun
    0.4 %

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 area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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)
21 Jun 29.5 °C 32 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
22 Jun 26.3 °C 44 % 37 km/h 0.5 mm High 24
23 Jun 27.7 °C 33 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
24 Jun 31.1 °C 32 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
25 Jun 23.0 °C 47 % 34 km/h 5.9 mm Very low 0
26 Jun 26.5 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
27 Jun 21.9 °C 39 % 41 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 14
28 Jun 21.5 °C 37 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
29 Jun 21.6 °C 38 % 33 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 15
30 Jun 25.1 °C 31 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
1 Jul 23.6 °C 43 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
2 Jul 22.9 °C 60 % 22 km/h 2.8 mm Very low 4
3 Jul 22.3 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
4 Jul 23.7 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
5 Jul 28.8 °C 27 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
6 Jul 33.0 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Jul 34.4 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
8 Jul 24.1 °C 51 % 55 km/h 0.4 mm High 28
9 Jul 20.8 °C 46 % 49 km/h 1.3 mm High 28
10 Jul 22.0 °C 40 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Low 9
11 Jul 25.5 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
12 Jul 26.7 °C 34 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
13 Jul 28.2 °C 34 % 40 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 18
14 Jul 27.9 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
15 Jul 22.3 °C 47 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
16 Jul 27.6 °C 39 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
17 Jul 29.6 °C 38 % 27 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 20
18 Jul 22.5 °C 50 % 52 km/h 1.9 mm Low 10
19 Jul 25.2 °C 37 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
20 Jul 28.5 °C 28 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
21 Jul 24.6 °C 48 % 31 km/h 1.9 mm Low 10
22 Jul 24.7 °C 40 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
23 Jul 29.0 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.4 mm High 27
24 Jul 29.8 °C 30 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
25 Jul 31.4 °C 27 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Jul 32.8 °C 28 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
27 Jul 34.1 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
28 Jul 32.0 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Jul 30.8 °C 35 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
30 Jul 26.9 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
31 Jul 27.1 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
1 Aug 25.3 °C 30 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
2 Aug 22.0 °C 53 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
3 Aug 25.3 °C 41 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
4 Aug 23.1 °C 48 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
5 Aug 21.3 °C 56 % 54 km/h 4.2 mm High 30
6 Aug 23.6 °C 41 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
7 Aug 21.2 °C 36 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
8 Aug 21.2 °C 42 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
9 Aug 23.5 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
10 Aug 23.1 °C 54 % 37 km/h 0.4 mm High 22
11 Aug 25.5 °C 37 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
12 Aug 26.5 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
13 Aug 28.5 °C 37 % 26 km/h 3.1 mm Moderate 21
14 Aug after 24.0 °C 53 % 31 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 4

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 23.5, a minimum humidity of 32% and 6 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 16.

FWI at the start 23.5
Minimum humidity 32 %
Days without rain 6
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Katangsky Rayon fire, August 2017
4,369 ha 16 days FWI 22.5 Min. humidity 32 % 65 km away, in 2017

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.8 mm on 24 Aug.

What happened to them

15 days
median duration
6,308 ha
median area
31 %
went past 10,000 ha
4.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 16 of 16 had it)

It was 9.3 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 54 days, against 15 days.

None of its 16 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 4.4 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

1.0 mmfirst rain
14 Augthe day after it ended
55km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 13 Aug, and on 14 Aug 1.0 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 16 of 16, with a median of 4.4 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 · 14 Jun 2021
After · 20 Aug 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.

Detections table · 13,544Every 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?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 June 2021 and 13 August 2021: 54 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 58,706 hectares (587.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Katangsky Rayon (61,849 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, 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: 16. Their median duration was 15 days and their median area 6,308 ha; 31 % went past 10,000 ha. None of its 16 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 4.4 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. Area: 62,259 → 58,706 ha.

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; 5 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 13,544 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.