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Khiloksky District fire, 20 May 2025 Khiloksky District

Out · last detection 5 Jun 2025, 19:55 UTC

The fire started on 20 May 2025 in Khiloksky District, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 19,728 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 44th largest in Zabaykalsky Krai since 2016 (of 465 with a page). Number 33 in Russia in 2025, of 238.

Burnt area
19,728ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
20 May 2025 – 4 Jun 2025
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
20 May
2025
Heat detections
1,448
in a single hotspot: 681 MW
Danger at start
26
High · FWI index
Average daily power
1.5GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 May4 Jun
5 Jun 2025

How it evolved, day by day

20 May 2025 · 156 MW · 44 21 May 2025 · 679 MW · 113 22 May 2025 · 6,268 MW · 172 23 May 2025 · 4,324 MW · 120 24 May 2025 · 583 MW · 104 25 May 2025 · 1,161 MW · 173 26 May 2025 · 3,350 MW · 387 27 May 2025 · 4,117 MW · 242 28 May 2025 · 513 MW · 53 29 May 2025 · 5 MW · 2 31 May 2025 · 76 MW · 9 2 Jun 2025 · 11 MW · 2 4 Jun 2025 · 51 MW · 11 5 Jun 2025 · 69 MW · 16
22 May 26 May 29 May 4 Jun

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
76km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.0 mm on 10 Jun.

This area had burned before

24% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,969 ha in 2017, 257 ha in 2020, 969 ha in 2022, 144 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,680 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 12% of the area of London (197 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. Khiloksky District where it started
    19,674 ha reached on 20 May
    1.3 %

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)
20 May 15.1 °C 16 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
21 May 18.6 °C 19 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
22 May 21.9 °C 19 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
23 May 23.9 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
24 May 25.2 °C 19 % 45 km/h 0.6 mm High 28
25 May 27.1 °C 18 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
26 May 29.8 °C 14 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 May 31.2 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 May 24.2 °C 33 % 63 km/h 3.4 mm High 31
29 May 17.7 °C 23 % 53 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 4
30 May 11.3 °C 37 % 76 km/h 2.2 mm Moderate 12
31 May 16.0 °C 19 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
1 Jun 16.4 °C 31 % 30 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 15
2 Jun 15.9 °C 23 % 53 km/h 0.3 mm High 23
3 Jun 14.7 °C 44 % 43 km/h 2.2 mm High 23
4 Jun 16.5 °C 33 % 70 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 15
5 Jun after 15.9 °C 28 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
6 Jun after 21.5 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
7 Jun after 23.0 °C 18 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
8 Jun after 16.5 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
9 Jun after 23.9 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
10 Jun after 21.2 °C 27 % 45 km/h 3.0 mm High 26

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 26.5, a minimum humidity of 16% and 5 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 16.

FWI at the start 26.5
Minimum humidity 16 %
Days without rain 5
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Chitinsky District fire, May 2024
3,226 ha 2 days FWI 33.8 Min. humidity 16 % 122 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.6 mm on 10 May.

What happened to them

9 days
median duration
5,162 ha
median area
25 %
went past 10,000 ha
4.6 mm
rain at the end (median; 16 of 16 had it)

It was 3.8 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 16 days, against 9 days.

Only 1 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 4.6 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

3.0 mmfirst rain
10 Jun6 days after it ended
76km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 4 Jun, and on 10 Jun 3.0 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 4.6 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 · 13 May 2025
After · 11 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 25 May 2025 the air beside the fire reached 389 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 216: 14 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak389 µg/m³
Days over the guideline10 days
PM10398 µg/m³
Optical depth3.04
18 May21 May24 May27 May30 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 · 1,448Every 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 Khiloksky District fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 May 2025 to 4 June 2025 (16 days). The perimeter dates it from 20 May 2025 to 28 May 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 19,728 hectares (197.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Khiloksky District (19,674 ha, 1.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.2 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 76 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, 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 9 days and their median area 5,162 ha; 25 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 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 4.6 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: 28 May 2025 → 4 June 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 20 May 2025 to 28 May 2025. 1,448 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.