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Ust-Aldansky Ulus fire, 5 July 2020 Ust-Aldansky Ulus

Out · last detection 23 Aug 2020, 05:20 UTC

The fire started on 5 July 2020 in Ust-Aldansky Ulus, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 50 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 84,832 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

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 43th largest in Sakha Republic since 2016 (of 1422 with a page). Number 5 in Russia in 2020, of 593.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Ust-Aldansky Ulus · 2020Ust-Aldansky Ulus · 2025Ust-Aldansky Ulus · 2017Kobyaysky Ulus · 2017

Burnt area
84,832ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
50days
5 Jul 2020 – 23 Aug 2020
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
5 Jul
2020
Heat detections
13,025
in a single hotspot: 353 MW
Danger at start
22
High · FWI index
Average daily power
2.4GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 5 Jul23 Aug
23 Aug 2020

How it evolved, day by day

5 Jul 2020 · 3 MW · 2 6 Jul 2020 · 7 MW · 3 7 Jul 2020 · 315 MW · 26 8 Jul 2020 · 147 MW · 26 9 Jul 2020 · 1,683 MW · 243 10 Jul 2020 · 5,435 MW · 382 11 Jul 2020 · 4,152 MW · 510 12 Jul 2020 · 8,631 MW · 708 13 Jul 2020 · 4,379 MW · 468 14 Jul 2020 · 21,978 MW · 1125 15 Jul 2020 · 7,561 MW · 1068 16 Jul 2020 · 3,553 MW · 663 17 Jul 2020 · 7,098 MW · 830 18 Jul 2020 · 40 MW · 7 20 Jul 2020 · 1,246 MW · 279 21 Jul 2020 · 279 MW · 34 22 Jul 2020 · 3,199 MW · 330 23 Jul 2020 · 5,753 MW · 799 24 Jul 2020 · 4,647 MW · 486 25 Jul 2020 · 9,756 MW · 374 28 Jul 2020 · 221 MW · 27 29 Jul 2020 · 39 MW · 33 30 Jul 2020 · 2,195 MW · 466 31 Jul 2020 · 1,596 MW · 356 1 Aug 2020 · 2,353 MW · 430 2 Aug 2020 · 3,130 MW · 410 3 Aug 2020 · 1,824 MW · 332 4 Aug 2020 · 1,320 MW · 255 5 Aug 2020 · 2,862 MW · 414 6 Aug 2020 · 604 MW · 214 7 Aug 2020 · 724 MW · 193 8 Aug 2020 · 673 MW · 245 9 Aug 2020 · 439 MW · 107 10 Aug 2020 · 1 MW · 1 12 Aug 2020 · 6 MW · 7 13 Aug 2020 · 12 MW · 9 14 Aug 2020 · 276 MW · 101 15 Aug 2020 · 721 MW · 197 16 Aug 2020 · 83 MW · 19 17 Aug 2020 · 635 MW · 206 18 Aug 2020 · 774 MW · 164 19 Aug 2020 · 359 MW · 75 20 Aug 2020 · 651 MW · 155 21 Aug 2020 · 599 MW · 132 22 Aug 2020 · 402 MW · 98 23 Aug 2020 · 114 MW · 16
5 Jul 12 Jul 14 Jul 20 Jul 29 Jul 5 Aug 13 Aug 20 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

33°high
66km/h · peak gust
20%lowest humidity

It had gone 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.2 mm on 24 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 54% of the area of London (848 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. Ust-Aldansky Ulus where it started
    85,715 ha
    4.7 %

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)
28 Jun 29.4 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.4 mm High 22
29 Jun 30.9 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
30 Jun 28.7 °C 20 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
1 Jul 28.7 °C 33 % 35 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 21
2 Jul 25.1 °C 53 % 39 km/h 11.4 mm Very low 2
3 Jul 21.9 °C 38 % 34 km/h 1.2 mm Very low 5
4 Jul 21.3 °C 37 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
5 Jul 18.1 °C 39 % 27 km/h 0.8 mm Low 11
6 Jul 19.0 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
7 Jul 20.0 °C 42 % 20 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 12
8 Jul 22.9 °C 37 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
9 Jul 23.1 °C 42 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 18
10 Jul 25.7 °C 33 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
11 Jul 24.4 °C 48 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 20
12 Jul 30.0 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
13 Jul 32.8 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
14 Jul 29.9 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Jul 29.2 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
16 Jul 27.9 °C 31 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
17 Jul 31.1 °C 32 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Jul 31.1 °C 37 % 41 km/h 9.6 mm Low 7
19 Jul 23.4 °C 55 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
20 Jul 30.4 °C 51 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
21 Jul 25.9 °C 41 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
22 Jul 22.4 °C 47 % 49 km/h 0.1 mm High 22
23 Jul 25.7 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
24 Jul 28.0 °C 34 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
25 Jul 31.2 °C 24 % 41 km/h 5.6 mm Low 9
26 Jul 23.6 °C 36 % 37 km/h 13.5 mm Very low 2
27 Jul 24.6 °C 40 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
28 Jul 24.8 °C 33 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
29 Jul 22.2 °C 42 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
30 Jul 24.4 °C 27 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
31 Jul 25.0 °C 25 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
1 Aug 26.2 °C 25 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
2 Aug 27.2 °C 27 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
3 Aug 26.8 °C 30 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
4 Aug 26.3 °C 36 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
5 Aug 26.0 °C 29 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
6 Aug 26.0 °C 33 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
7 Aug 25.4 °C 29 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
8 Aug 25.6 °C 28 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
9 Aug 25.0 °C 41 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
10 Aug 19.0 °C 70 % 26 km/h 6.0 mm Very low 0
11 Aug 19.0 °C 46 % 22 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 3
12 Aug 18.1 °C 54 % 37 km/h 0.7 mm Low 6
13 Aug 13.3 °C 38 % 66 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 12
14 Aug 15.7 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
15 Aug 17.2 °C 33 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
16 Aug 15.0 °C 51 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
17 Aug 17.6 °C 33 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
18 Aug 18.9 °C 30 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
19 Aug 19.0 °C 43 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
20 Aug 16.8 °C 34 % 34 km/h 1.2 mm Low 11
21 Aug 17.0 °C 33 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
22 Aug 17.9 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
23 Aug 15.9 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
24 Aug after 9.7 °C 53 % 38 km/h 4.2 mm Very low 2

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 28 Jun 2020
After · 30 Aug 2020

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 · 13,025Every 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 Ust-Aldansky Ulus fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 5 July 2020 and 23 August 2020: 50 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 84,832 hectares (848.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Ust-Aldansky Ulus (85,715 ha, 4.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 66 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, class 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.

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 3 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 13,025 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.

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.