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Suntarsky Ulus fire, 5 July 2021 Suntarsky Ulus, Nyurbinsky Ulus

Out · last detection 7 Aug 2021, 04:36 UTC

The fire started on 5 July 2021 in Suntarsky Ulus, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 34 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 112,458 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 23th largest in Sakha Republic since 2016 (of 1347 with a page). Number 13 in Russia in 2021, of 581.

Burnt area
112,458ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
34days
5 Jul 2021 – 7 Aug 2021
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
5 Jul
2021
Heat detections
15,780
in a single hotspot: 739 MW
Danger at start
12
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
4.6GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 5 Jul7 Aug
7 Aug 2021

How it evolved, day by day

5 Jul 2021 · 19 MW · 7 6 Jul 2021 · 270 MW · 44 7 Jul 2021 · 4,446 MW · 252 8 Jul 2021 · 10,523 MW · 303 9 Jul 2021 · 11 MW · 1 10 Jul 2021 · 390 MW · 33 11 Jul 2021 · 445 MW · 221 12 Jul 2021 · 3,382 MW · 513 13 Jul 2021 · 25,468 MW · 1157 14 Jul 2021 · 9,815 MW · 366 15 Jul 2021 · 1,600 MW · 512 16 Jul 2021 · 10,516 MW · 1337 17 Jul 2021 · 2,961 MW · 503 18 Jul 2021 · 1,730 MW · 202 19 Jul 2021 · 876 MW · 32 20 Jul 2021 · 158 MW · 116 21 Jul 2021 · 11,250 MW · 548 22 Jul 2021 · 1,368 MW · 126 25 Jul 2021 · 5 MW · 4 26 Jul 2021 · 3,120 MW · 434 27 Jul 2021 · 1,320 MW · 232 28 Jul 2021 · 1,415 MW · 275 29 Jul 2021 · 5,320 MW · 992 30 Jul 2021 · 13,432 MW · 1524 31 Jul 2021 · 12,874 MW · 1232 1 Aug 2021 · 2,647 MW · 636 2 Aug 2021 · 8,285 MW · 1307 3 Aug 2021 · 7,804 MW · 595 4 Aug 2021 · 1,777 MW · 925 5 Aug 2021 · 1,294 MW · 787 6 Aug 2021 · 1,697 MW · 442 7 Aug 2021 · 584 MW · 122
5 Jul 13 Jul 19 Jul 28 Jul 4 Aug

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
58km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 15.1 mm on 8 Aug.

This area had burned before

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

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 71% of the area of London (1,125 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Suntarsky Ulus where it started
    117,841 ha reached on 5 Jul
    2.0 %
  2. 112 ha reached on 4 Aug
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
5 Jul 27.9 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
6 Jul 29.1 °C 29 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
7 Jul 33.7 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Jul 33.1 °C 30 % 51 km/h 1.6 mm Very high 41
9 Jul 22.1 °C 49 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
10 Jul 19.4 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
11 Jul 23.1 °C 37 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
12 Jul 26.5 °C 30 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
13 Jul 27.9 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
14 Jul 28.7 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
15 Jul 19.0 °C 37 % 42 km/h 1.1 mm High 31
16 Jul 24.4 °C 25 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
17 Jul 29.5 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
18 Jul 28.8 °C 40 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
19 Jul 24.7 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm High 23
20 Jul 23.3 °C 49 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
21 Jul 27.2 °C 32 % 26 km/h 0.1 mm High 23
22 Jul 27.2 °C 33 % 27 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 16
23 Jul 19.6 °C 69 % 30 km/h 5.1 mm Moderate 18
24 Jul 29.0 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
25 Jul 29.9 °C 30 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
26 Jul 32.9 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
27 Jul 31.4 °C 36 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
28 Jul 29.5 °C 43 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
29 Jul 26.3 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
30 Jul 24.7 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
31 Jul 25.5 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
1 Aug 25.4 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
2 Aug 28.0 °C 35 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
3 Aug 25.9 °C 35 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
4 Aug 26.4 °C 34 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
5 Aug 25.4 °C 35 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
6 Aug 21.4 °C 37 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Aug 22.6 °C 44 % 32 km/h 5.5 mm High 26
8 Aug after 16.1 °C 86 % 22 km/h 15.1 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 12.4, a minimum humidity of 29% and rain the day before. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 40.

FWI at the start 12.4
Minimum humidity 29 %
Days without rain 0
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Nyurbinsky Ulus fire, July 2019
24,477 ha 16 days FWI 10.0 Min. humidity 30 % 135 km away, in 2019

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.0 mm on 1 Aug.

What happened to them

9 days
median duration
5,840 ha
median area
25 %
went past 10,000 ha
4.0 mm
rain at the end (median; 40 of 40 had it)

It was 19.3 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 34 days, against 9 days.

Only 1 of its 40 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 4.0 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

15.1 mmfirst rain
8 Augthe day after it ended
58km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 7 Aug, and on 8 Aug 15.1 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 40 of 40, with a median of 4.0 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 28 Jun 2021
After · 14 Aug 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.

Detections table · 15,780Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Russia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Suntarsky Ulus fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 5 July 2021 to 7 August 2021 (34 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 July 2021 to 7 August 2021.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 112,458 hectares (1,124.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Suntarsky Ulus (117,841 ha, 2.0 %); Nyurbinsky Ulus (112 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.7 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 58 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 40. Their median duration was 9 days and their median area 5,840 ha; 25 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 of its 40 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 4.0 mm.

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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Area: 116,589 → 112,458 ha.
  2. Start date: 6 July 2021 → 5 July 2021.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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
What do you think is wrong?

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 5 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 6 July 2021 to 7 August 2021. 15,780 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.