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Tulsipur fire, April 2016 India

Out · last measured on 13 Apr 2016

The fire started on 6 April 2016 in Tulsipur, India, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,047 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 21th largest in Uttar Pradesh since 2016 (of 30 with a page). Number 36 in India in 2016, of 47.

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
6,047ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
6 Apr 2016 – 13 Apr 2016
Municipalities hit
0
subdistricts
Started on
6 Apr
2016
Danger at start
49
Very high · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

39°high
65km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.9 mm on 18 Apr.

This area had burned before

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

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)
6 Apr 37.3 °C 18 % 65 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
7 Apr 36.2 °C 20 % 55 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 46
8 Apr 36.7 °C 15 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
9 Apr 37.3 °C 14 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
10 Apr 38.5 °C 13 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
11 Apr 38.8 °C 16 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
12 Apr 34.5 °C 22 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
13 Apr 35.5 °C 21 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
14 Apr after 36.7 °C 17 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
15 Apr after 37.9 °C 18 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
16 Apr after 36.5 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
17 Apr after 34.6 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Apr after 34.8 °C 31 % 37 km/h 1.9 mm High 23

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

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 Tulsipur 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 6,047 hectares (60.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.8 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 65 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 61, class Extreme.
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.

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.

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.