Shiwalaya fire, 23 March 2021 Simta, Shiwalaya, Chingad
The fire started on 23 March 2021 in Shiwalaya, Nepal, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,540 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 23th largest in Karnali since 2016 (of 42 with a page). Number 23 in Nepal in 2021, of 39.
The power measured by the satellite is low (21.0 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 2,540ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 23 Mar 2021 – 28 Mar 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 23 Mar
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 89
- in a single hotspot: 21 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 45MW
- 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 15 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.5 mm on 7 Apr.
This area had burned before
74% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,148 ha in 2016, 1,715 ha in 2018, 271 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,872 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
2,172 ha9.0 %
-
Shiwalaya where it started359 ha2.7 %
-
20 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Mar | 26.0 °C | 27 % | 40 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 24 Mar | 23.0 °C | 36 % | 34 km/h | 2.0 mm | Low 6 |
| 25 Mar | 23.5 °C | 32 % | 42 km/h | 0.4 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 26 Mar | 25.9 °C | 32 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 27 Mar | 25.3 °C | 36 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 28 Mar | 23.4 °C | 47 % | 32 km/h | 0.7 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 29 Mar after | 25.0 °C | 42 % | 50 km/h | 1.5 mm | Low 8 |
| 30 Mar after | 27.7 °C | 26 % | 63 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 31 Mar after | 24.4 °C | 45 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 1 Apr after | 23.6 °C | 30 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 2 Apr after | 24.8 °C | 23 % | 44 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 3 Apr after | 24.2 °C | 20 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 4 Apr after | 25.2 °C | 26 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 5 Apr after | 25.4 °C | 30 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 6 Apr after | 26.4 °C | 30 % | 49 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 26 |
| 7 Apr after | 26.3 °C | 33 % | 42 km/h | 4.5 mm | Very low 4 |
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 · 89Every 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 Shiwalaya fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 March 2021 and 28 March 2021: 6 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 2,540 hectares (25.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Simta (2,172 ha, 9.0 %); Shiwalaya (359 ha, 2.7 %); Chingad (20 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 27.7 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Nepal (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
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 ADM3 (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License). 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.