Skip to content
worldfires
NP · Nepal · →

Krishnapur fire, April 2021 Krishnapur, Shuklaphanta, Parashuram

Out · last detection 12 Apr 2021, 20:07 UTC

The fire started on 6 April 2021 in Krishnapur, Nepal, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,762 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.

It is the 10th largest in Sudurpaschim since 2016 (of 35 with a page). Number 10 in Nepal in 2021, of 38.

The power measured by the satellite is low (10.3 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
3,762ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
6 Apr 2021 – 12 Apr 2021
Municipalities hit
4
municipalities
Started on
6 Apr
2021
Heat detections
214
in a single hotspot: 10 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Energy released
408MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

12 Apr 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Apr12 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

6789101112

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

The weather it burned in

33°high
56km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 40 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 21 Apr.

This area had burned before

87% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,756 ha in 2016, 147 ha in 2017, 2,220 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,270 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Krishnapur where it started
    1,898 ha reached on 31 Mar
    7.5 %
  2. Shuklaphanta
    1,164 ha reached on 31 Mar
    7.2 %
  3. Parashuram
    521 ha reached on 1 Apr
    1.3 %
  4. Alital
    194 ha reached on 3 Apr
    0.7 %

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)
31 Mar 28.1 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
1 Apr 26.4 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
2 Apr 27.3 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
3 Apr 27.3 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
4 Apr 28.8 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
5 Apr 29.4 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
6 Apr 30.0 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
7 Apr 30.2 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
8 Apr 30.4 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
9 Apr 30.6 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
10 Apr 30.6 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
11 Apr 30.8 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
12 Apr 30.8 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
13 Apr after 31.3 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 Apr after 32.6 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 42
15 Apr after 31.3 °C 22 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Apr after 31.8 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
17 Apr after 28.3 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.7 mm High 30
18 Apr after 28.6 °C 27 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Apr after 30.5 °C 20 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Apr after 31.9 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
21 Apr after 26.8 °C 35 % 46 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 19

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 30 Mar 2021
After · 19 Apr 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 · 214Every 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 Nepal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Krishnapur fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 April 2021 and 12 April 2021: 7 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 3,762 hectares (37.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 4 municipalities: Krishnapur (1,898 ha, 7.5 %); Shuklaphanta (1,164 ha, 7.2 %); Parashuram (521 ha, 1.3 %); Alital (194 ha, 0.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.6 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Nepal (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: 101

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 101.

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 (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License). 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.