How long did the Sitganga fire last?

GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 April 2016 and 13 April 2016: 8 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 6,796 hectares (68.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 3 municipalities: Sitganga (5,149 ha, 8.4 %); Buddhabhumi (904 ha, 2.4 %); Banganga (769 ha, 3.3 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 41.3 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 66 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 66, class Extreme.

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.

NP · Nepal · 2016-04-06 → 2016-04-13

Sitganga fire, 6 April 2016 Sitganga, Buddhabhumi, Banganga

Out · last detection 14 Apr 2016, 20:08 UTC

The fire started on 6 April 2016 in Sitganga, Nepal, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,796 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 14th largest in Lumbini since 2016 (of 49 with a page). Number 7 in Nepal in 2016, of 47.

The power measured by the satellite is low (18.0 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: 6,796ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 8days; 6 Apr 2016 – 13 Apr 2016
Municipalities hit: 3; municipalities
Started on: 6 Apr; 2016
Heat detections: 286; in a single hotspot: 18 MW
Danger at start: 30; High · FWI index
Energy released: 963MW; sum of detected power

Play back 14 Apr 2016

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Apr13 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

67891011121314

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

41°high

66km/h · peak gust

11%lowest humidity

It had gone 15 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

Sitganga where it started

5,149 ha reached on 6 Apr

8.4 %
Buddhabhumi

904 ha reached on 6 Apr

2.4 %
Banganga

769 ha reached on 7 Apr

3.3 %

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)
30 Mar	33.9 °C	27 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
31 Mar	31.9 °C	43 %	31 km/h	0.1 mm	High 24
1 Apr	32.4 °C	40 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
2 Apr	30.1 °C	48 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
3 Apr	30.6 °C	51 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
4 Apr	33.9 °C	45 %	36 km/h	0.3 mm	High 22
5 Apr	38.9 °C	24 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
6 Apr	39.4 °C	15 %	66 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
7 Apr	37.8 °C	18 %	59 km/h	0.4 mm	Extreme 57
8 Apr	38.3 °C	14 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
9 Apr	39.1 °C	12 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
10 Apr	40.3 °C	11 %	58 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 64
11 Apr	40.4 °C	14 %	61 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
12 Apr	36.5 °C	20 %	52 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
13 Apr	37.0 °C	21 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
14 Apr after	38.3 °C	16 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
15 Apr after	39.1 °C	18 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 50
16 Apr after	37.0 °C	27 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
17 Apr after	34.4 °C	43 %	35 km/h	0.1 mm	High 33
18 Apr after	35.3 °C	38 %	34 km/h	1.6 mm	Moderate 21
19 Apr after	38.7 °C	24 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
20 Apr after	41.3 °C	17 %	62 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 61
21 Apr after	39.5 °C	18 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
22 Apr after	39.9 °C	16 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
23 Apr after	39.6 °C	15 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
24 Apr after	38.4 °C	10 %	63 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 69
25 Apr after	38.8 °C	12 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
26 Apr after	39.7 °C	13 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
27 Apr after	40.3 °C	14 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 61
28 Apr after	40.6 °C	12 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 61
29 Apr after	40.7 °C	10 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
30 Apr after	39.6 °C	13 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 30 Mar 2016

After · 20 Apr 2016

Before After

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 · 286Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.

⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.

Date and time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Nepal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Sitganga fire last?: GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 April 2016 and 13 April 2016: 8 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 6,796 hectares (68.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 3 municipalities: Sitganga (5,149 ha, 8.4 %); Buddhabhumi (904 ha, 2.4 %); Banganga (769 ha, 3.3 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 41.3 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 66 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 66, class Extreme.
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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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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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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.

Where it burned