Matad fire, 27 March 2018 Matad
The fire started on 27 March 2018 in Matad, Mongolia, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,758 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 15th largest in Dornod since 2016 (of 20 with a page). Number 5 in Mongolia in 2018, of 6.
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
- 2,758ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 1day
- 27 Mar 2018 – 27 Mar 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 27 Mar
- 2018
- Danger at start
- 28
- High · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 12 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.0 mm on 5 Apr.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Matad where it started2,757 ha0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Mar | 19.7 °C | 20 % | 82 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 28 Mar after | 6.0 °C | 20 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 29 Mar after | 12.0 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 30 Mar after | 12.3 °C | 17 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 31 Mar after | 17.1 °C | 32 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 1 Apr after | 24.4 °C | 13 % | 65 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 2 Apr after | 3.9 °C | 15 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 3 Apr after | -0.1 °C | 15 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 4 Apr after | 4.0 °C | 11 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 5 Apr after | -0.1 °C | 14 % | 81 km/h | 6.0 mm | Very low 3 |
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 Matad fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 27 March 2018 and 27 March 2018: 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 2,758 hectares (27.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Matad (2,757 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 19.7 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 82 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mongolia (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: 105 · 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
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 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.