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Khoda Afarin fire, July 2018 Iran

Out · last measured on 26 Jul 2018

The fire started on 23 July 2018 in Khoda Afarin, Iran, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,047 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 31th largest in East Azerbaijan since 2016 (of 36 with a page). Number 9 in Iran in 2018, of 14.

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
1,047ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
23 Jul 2018 – 26 Jul 2018
Municipalities hit
0
counties
Started on
23 Jul
2018
Danger at start
11
Low · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

34°high
33km/h · peak gust
40%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

1% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 10 ha in 2017.

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)
23 Jul 28.4 °C 49 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm Low 11
24 Jul 31.7 °C 49 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
25 Jul 34.3 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
26 Jul 32.8 °C 51 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
27 Jul after 32.2 °C 44 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
28 Jul after 31.0 °C 40 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
29 Jul after 31.9 °C 39 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
30 Jul after 32.7 °C 40 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
31 Jul after 32.6 °C 35 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
1 Aug after 32.8 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
2 Aug after 31.7 °C 43 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
3 Aug after 31.6 °C 45 % 32 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 18
4 Aug after 30.9 °C 42 % 33 km/h 0.5 mm High 22
5 Aug after 30.4 °C 53 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm High 21

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 16 Jul 2018
After · 2 Aug 2018

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Other fires nearby

All fires in Iran ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Khoda Afarin fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 July 2018 and 26 July 2018: 4 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 1,047 hectares (10.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.3 °C, humidity dropped to 40 % and gusts hit 33 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 20, class Moderate.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Iran (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: 125

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
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 125.

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.