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Magdagachinsky District fire, 12 May 2024 Magdagachinsky District, Shimanovsky District

Out · last detection 27 May 2024, 02:53 UTC

The fire started on 12 May 2024 in Magdagachinsky District, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 26,106 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 48th largest in Amur Oblast since 2016 (of 491 with a page). Number 42 in Russia in 2024, of 557.

Burnt area
26,106ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
15days
12 May 2024 – 26 May 2024
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
12 May
2024
Heat detections
1,516
in a single hotspot: 253 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Average daily power
1.8GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 May26 May
27 May 2024

How it evolved, day by day

12 May 2024 · 246 MW · 57 14 May 2024 · 5 MW · 6 15 May 2024 · 515 MW · 64 16 May 2024 · 4,166 MW · 402 18 May 2024 · 7,614 MW · 393 19 May 2024 · 1,126 MW · 142 20 May 2024 · 5,354 MW · 244 23 May 2024 · 28 MW · 5 24 May 2024 · 217 MW · 39 25 May 2024 · 566 MW · 66 26 May 2024 · 1,218 MW · 97 27 May 2024 · 6 MW · 1
12 May 18 May 25 May

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

The weather it burned in

27°high
68km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

36% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 655 ha in 2017, 8,786 ha in 2018, 20 ha in 2022.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 16% of the area of London (261 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. Magdagachinsky District where it started
    21,244 ha reached on 12 May
    1.3 %
  2. 4,605 ha reached on 12 May
    0.3 %

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)
12 May 17.5 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
13 May 14.9 °C 27 % 25 km/h 1.7 mm Moderate 19
14 May 12.6 °C 29 % 57 km/h 1.7 mm Low 8
15 May 21.2 °C 18 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
16 May 27.0 °C 15 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
17 May 19.8 °C 30 % 38 km/h 1.8 mm Low 8
18 May 12.6 °C 20 % 68 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 May 20.0 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
20 May 22.0 °C 16 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
21 May 19.2 °C 52 % 37 km/h 4.8 mm Very low 0
22 May 11.1 °C 42 % 47 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 4
23 May 18.2 °C 30 % 47 km/h 0.4 mm Low 9
24 May 23.7 °C 19 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
25 May 25.8 °C 16 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
26 May 23.5 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.2 mm High 27
27 May after 16.8 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.4 mm High 30
28 May after 15.9 °C 43 % 34 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 19
29 May after 16.3 °C 40 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
30 May after 22.6 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
31 May after 28.4 °C 15 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
1 Jun after 31.2 °C 14 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
2 Jun after 29.2 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 40
3 Jun after 20.7 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
4 Jun after 23.1 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
5 Jun after 24.6 °C 29 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 24

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 23.5, a minimum humidity of 23% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 15.

FWI at the start 23.5
Minimum humidity 23 %
Days without rain 3
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Shimanovsky District fire, May 2016
39,816 ha 4 days FWI 24.0 Min. humidity 24 % 40 km away, in 2016

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 5.3 mm on 25 May.

What happened to them

4 days
median duration
6,237 ha
median area
40 %
went past 10,000 ha
9.3 mm
rain at the end (median; 15 of 15 had it)

It was 4.2 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 15 days, against 4 days.

Only 3 of its 15 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 9.3 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

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
68km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 26 May, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 15 of 15, with a median of 9.3 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 · 5 May 2024
After · 2 Jun 2024

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 21 May 2024 the air beside the fire reached 430 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 222: 15 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak430 µg/m³
Days over the guideline11 days
PM10615 µg/m³
Optical depth3.91
10 May13 May16 May19 May22 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 · 1,516Every 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 Magdagachinsky District fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 12 May 2024 to 26 May 2024 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 12 May 2024 to 20 May 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 26,106 hectares (261.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Magdagachinsky District (21,244 ha, 1.3 %); Shimanovsky District (4,605 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 27.0 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 68 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, class 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: 15. Their median duration was 4 days and their median area 6,237 ha; 40 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 3 of its 15 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 9.3 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: 20 May 2024 → 26 May 2024.

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; 3 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 12 May 2024 to 20 May 2024. 1,516 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.