Olyokminsky Ulus fire, 20 July 2024 Olyokminsky Ulus, Lensky Ulus
The fire started on 20 July 2024 in Olyokminsky Ulus, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 32 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 22,926 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 229th largest in Sakha Republic since 2016 (of 1422 with a page). Number 53 in Russia in 2024, of 560.
- Burnt area
- 22,926ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 32days
- 20 Jul 2024 – 20 Aug 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 20 Jul
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 2,839
- in a single hotspot: 314 MW
- Danger at start
- 15
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 20.6GW
- sum of detected power
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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.7 mm on 21 Aug.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Olyokminsky Ulus where it started19,770 ha reached on 20 Jul0.1 %
-
3,875 ha reached on 6 Aug0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Jul | 24.3 °C | 32 % | 26 km/h | 0.5 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 21 Jul | 27.4 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 22 Jul | 30.6 °C | 38 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 23 Jul | 25.9 °C | 51 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 24 Jul | 29.3 °C | 42 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 25 Jul | 32.5 °C | 37 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 26 Jul | 30.2 °C | 49 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 27 Jul | 28.7 °C | 49 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 28 Jul | 29.1 °C | 46 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 29 Jul | 23.6 °C | 69 % | 30 km/h | 8.5 mm | Very low 1 |
| 30 Jul | 19.4 °C | 49 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very low 4 |
| 31 Jul | 15.7 °C | 46 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 8 |
| 1 Aug | 18.3 °C | 39 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 2 Aug | 20.2 °C | 31 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 3 Aug | 23.0 °C | 31 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 4 Aug | 23.2 °C | 44 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 5 Aug | 22.1 °C | 63 % | 30 km/h | 0.6 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 6 Aug | 25.5 °C | 36 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 7 Aug | 25.3 °C | 39 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 8 Aug | 28.2 °C | 31 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 9 Aug | 29.8 °C | 30 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 10 Aug | 28.9 °C | 35 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 11 Aug | 26.3 °C | 42 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 12 Aug | 29.3 °C | 39 % | 31 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 24 |
| 13 Aug | 22.9 °C | 47 % | 44 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 14 Aug | 22.3 °C | 47 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 15 Aug | 20.4 °C | 38 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 16 Aug | 22.1 °C | 34 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 17 Aug | 23.0 °C | 39 % | 15 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 18 Aug | 24.7 °C | 29 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 19 Aug | 24.3 °C | 51 % | 29 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 20 Aug | 23.1 °C | 58 % | 24 km/h | 5.4 mm | Very low 2 |
| 21 Aug after | 20.2 °C | 66 % | 42 km/h | 7.7 mm | Very low 0 |
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 19 August 2024 the air beside the fire reached 1,043 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 596: 40 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 · 2,839Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Olyokminsky Ulus fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 July 2024 and 20 August 2024: 32 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 22,926 hectares (229.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Olyokminsky Ulus (19,770 ha, 0.1 %); Lensky Ulus (3,875 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.5 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, 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.
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
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 (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.