Nasrullaganj fire, March 2026 Seoni-Malwa, Dolariya, Timarni
The fire started on 21 March 2026 in Nasrullaganj, India, and satellites saw it burning for 22 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 86,610 hectares from heat detections, spread across 8 municipalities.
It is the 2th largest in Madhya Pradesh since 2016 (of 60 with a page). Number 2 in India in 2026, of 58.
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- Burnt area
- 86,610ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 22days
- 21 Mar 2026 – 11 Apr 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 8
- subdistricts
- Started on
- 21 Mar
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 3,300
- in a single hotspot: 101 MW
- Danger at start
- 36
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 776MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 51 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
95% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 30,234 ha in 2016, 42,716 ha in 2017, 36,841 ha in 2018, 49,061 ha in 2019, 63,024 ha in 2020, 50,228 ha in 2021, 50,811 ha in 2022, 29,375 ha in 2023, 8,634 ha in 2024, 25,844 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 82,558 ha that had burned before.
- 46,014 ha Seoni-Malwa fire, March 2020 74,064 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 16,346 ha Dolariya fire, March 2021 23,270 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 15,383 ha Seoni-Malwa fire, March 2022 19,623 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 13,475 ha Dolariya fire, March 2022 19,673 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 9,421 ha Dolariya fire, April 2023 15,332 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,198 ha Dolariya fire, March 2022 10,279 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,975 ha Seoni-Malwa fire, March 2021 11,489 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,777 ha Timarni fire, March 2016 8,188 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
47,192 ha reached on 21 Mar37 %
-
18,601 ha reached on 26 Mar64 %
-
13,287 ha reached on 22 Mar37 %
-
3,591 ha reached on 27 Mar17 %
-
2,623 ha reached on 28 Mar2.7 %
-
1,270 ha reached on 25 Mar1.1 %
-
391 ha reached on 23 Mar0.5 %
-
83 ha reached on 26 Mar0.2 %
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 2025Inside the perimeter there were about 382 hectares of built-up land and about 82,000 residents (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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Mar | 31.5 °C | 28 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 22 Mar | 33.3 °C | 26 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 23 Mar | 35.7 °C | 23 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 24 Mar | 35.4 °C | 26 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 25 Mar | 37.0 °C | 25 % | 21 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 36 |
| 26 Mar | 37.7 °C | 22 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 27 Mar | 38.2 °C | 20 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 28 Mar | 36.8 °C | 26 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 29 Mar | 37.0 °C | 32 % | 33 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 42 |
| 30 Mar | 38.0 °C | 28 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 31 Mar | 36.9 °C | 32 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 1 Apr | 37.4 °C | 27 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 2 Apr | 36.6 °C | 36 % | 28 km/h | 1.6 mm | High 28 |
| 3 Apr | 36.0 °C | 30 % | 35 km/h | 0.3 mm | Very high 39 |
| 4 Apr | 35.4 °C | 29 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 5 Apr | 34.6 °C | 25 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 6 Apr | 35.1 °C | 21 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 7 Apr | 35.1 °C | 26 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 8 Apr | 34.1 °C | 34 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 9 Apr | 34.6 °C | 27 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 10 Apr | 36.1 °C | 22 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 11 Apr | 37.9 °C | 17 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 12 Apr after | 39.2 °C | 21 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 13 Apr after | 39.1 °C | 20 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 14 Apr after | 40.6 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 15 Apr after | 40.3 °C | 17 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 16 Apr after | 40.9 °C | 20 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 17 Apr after | 41.7 °C | 19 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 18 Apr after | 40.3 °C | 21 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 19 Apr after | 41.5 °C | 19 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 20 Apr after | 40.1 °C | 20 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 21 Apr after | 40.9 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 28 March 2026 the air beside the fire reached 48 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 32: 2.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 3,300Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 19,623 haSeoni-MalwaMarch 2022 · 11 days · 6 km away
- 74,064 haSeoni-MalwaMarch 2020 · 17 days · 7 km away
- 19,673 haDolariya28 March 2022 · 11 days · 13 km away
- 23,270 haDolariyaMarch 2021 · 12 days · 18 km away
- 16,141 haSeoni-MalwaMarch 2026 · 17 days · 21 km away
- 15,332 haDolariyaApril 2023 · 6 days · 21 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Nasrullaganj fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 21 March 2026 to 11 April 2026 (22 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 March 2026 to 4 April 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 86,610 hectares (866.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 8 municipalities: Seoni-Malwa (47,192 ha, 37 %); Dolariya (18,601 ha, 64 %); Timarni (13,287 ha, 37 %); Hoshangabad (3,591 ha, 17 %); Itarsi (2,623 ha, 2.7 %); Rehatgaon (1,270 ha, 1.1 %); Rehti (391 ha, 0.5 %); Harda (83 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.2 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of India (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: 112 · Emergency number and official warnings ›
Satellite cross-check
History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
- Last day with fire: 4 April 2026 → 11 April 2026.
- Start date: 22 March 2026 → 21 March 2026.
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
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 22 March 2026 to 4 April 2026. 3,300 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.
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.