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Raikot fire, October 2021 Raikot, Jagraon, Tapa

Out · last measured on 13 Nov 2021

The fire started on 29 October 2021 in Raikot, India, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 10,991 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.

It is the 10th largest in Punjab since 2016 (of 33 with a page). Number 17 in India in 2021, of 78.

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
10,991ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
29 Oct 2021 – 13 Nov 2021
Municipalities hit
4
subdistricts
Started on
29 Oct
2021
Danger at start
10
Low · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

30°high
38km/h · peak gust
30%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

93% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 10,716 ha in 2016, 584 ha in 2017, 946 ha in 2018, 3,214 ha in 2019, 8,047 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 10,232 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Raikot where it started
    5,310 ha
    12 %
  2. Jagraon
    4,286 ha
    5.3 %
  3. Tapa
    912 ha
    1.5 %
  4. Barnala
    514 ha
    0.6 %

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 Oct 29.1 °C 38 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
30 Oct 28.6 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
31 Oct 29.6 °C 39 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
1 Nov 28.6 °C 42 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
2 Nov 27.8 °C 44 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
3 Nov 27.1 °C 48 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
4 Nov 28.3 °C 37 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
5 Nov 27.9 °C 38 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
6 Nov 27.6 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
7 Nov 27.9 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
8 Nov 28.0 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
9 Nov 28.3 °C 34 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
10 Nov 28.6 °C 40 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
11 Nov 28.2 °C 44 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
12 Nov 28.2 °C 34 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
13 Nov 27.8 °C 30 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
14 Nov after 27.5 °C 32 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
15 Nov after 26.2 °C 37 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
16 Nov after 26.0 °C 31 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
17 Nov after 26.0 °C 33 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
18 Nov after 25.3 °C 37 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
19 Nov after 25.5 °C 38 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
20 Nov after 25.4 °C 34 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
21 Nov after 25.8 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
22 Nov after 25.8 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
23 Nov after 26.1 °C 34 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 22 Oct 2021
After · 20 Nov 2021

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

All fires in India ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Raikot fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 29 October 2021 and 13 November 2021: 16 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 10,991 hectares (109.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 4 municipalities: Raikot (5,310 ha, 12 %); Jagraon (4,286 ha, 5.3 %); Tapa (912 ha, 1.5 %); Barnala (514 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.6 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 18, class Moderate.
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

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.

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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.

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.