Linkou County fire, 15 April 2021 Linkou County
The fire started on 15 April 2021 in Linkou County, China, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,237 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 503th largest in Heilongjiang Province since 2016 (of 1751 with a page). Number 64 in China in 2021, of 261.
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
- 2,237ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 1day
- 15 Apr 2021 – 15 Apr 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- counties
- Started on
- 15 Apr
- 2021
- Danger at start
- 6
- Low · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.6 mm on 16 Apr.
This area had burned before
24% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 526 ha in 2019.
What happened to each town
-
Linkou County where it started2,250 ha0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Apr | 14.7 °C | 22 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 6 |
| 16 Apr after | 12.9 °C | 40 % | 56 km/h | 3.6 mm | Very low 1 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Linkou County fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 April 2021 and 15 April 2021: 1 day 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 2,237 hectares (22.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Linkou County (2,250 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 14.7 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 33 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 6, class Low.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of China (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: 119
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
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 (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.