Peshku fire, August 2018 Peshku
The fire started on 7 August 2018 in Peshku, Uzbekistan, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,851 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
Number 5 in Uzbekistan in 2018, of 13.
- Burnt area
- 1,851ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 12days
- 7 Aug 2018 – 18 Aug 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 7 Aug
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 108
- in a single hotspot: 141 MW
- Danger at start
- 68
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.5GW
- 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 56 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
0% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Peshku where it started1,845 ha reached on 2 Aug0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Jul | 38.2 °C | 13 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 30 Jul | 38.1 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 31 Jul | 37.9 °C | 11 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 1 Aug | 36.4 °C | 19 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 2 Aug | 33.3 °C | 19 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 3 Aug | 36.1 °C | 16 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 4 Aug | 38.4 °C | 15 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 5 Aug | 40.4 °C | 12 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 6 Aug | 42.0 °C | 14 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 78 |
| 7 Aug | 36.1 °C | 22 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 71 |
| 8 Aug | 38.7 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 9 Aug | 39.9 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 10 Aug | 41.6 °C | 12 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 11 Aug | 40.8 °C | 15 % | 59 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 101 |
| 12 Aug | 32.3 °C | 16 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 70 |
| 13 Aug | 36.4 °C | 15 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 71 |
| 14 Aug | 37.8 °C | 13 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 15 Aug | 38.7 °C | 11 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 16 Aug | 38.5 °C | 16 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 70 |
| 17 Aug | 35.4 °C | 12 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 74 |
| 18 Aug | 35.4 °C | 15 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 19 Aug after | 37.9 °C | 15 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 20 Aug after | 31.1 °C | 19 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 77 |
| 21 Aug after | 29.5 °C | 16 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 22 Aug after | 31.6 °C | 13 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 23 Aug after | 33.6 °C | 11 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 24 Aug after | 34.1 °C | 11 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 25 Aug after | 31.1 °C | 15 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 26 Aug after | 30.7 °C | 15 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 27 Aug after | 31.9 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 28 Aug after | 31.4 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
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.
Detections table · 108Every 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 Peshku fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 7 August 2018 and 18 August 2018: 12 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 1,851 hectares (18.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Peshku (1,845 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 42.0 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 59 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 101, class Very extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Uzbekistan (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: 101 · 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 (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.