Usur fire, April 2017 Usur, Bijapur
The fire started on 11 April 2017 in Usur, India, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,505 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 24th largest in Chhattīsgarh since 2016 (of 37 with a page). Number 12 in India in 2017, of 27.
The power measured by the satellite is low (26.2 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
- 6,505ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 14days
- 11 Apr 2017 – 24 Apr 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- subdistricts
- Started on
- 11 Apr
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 308
- in a single hotspot: 26 MW
- Danger at start
- 39
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.2GW
- sum of detected power
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 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.5 mm on 1 May.
This area had burned before
49% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,197 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Usur where it started6,435 ha reached on 11 Apr2.7 %
-
112 ha reached on 11 Apr0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Apr | 40.8 °C | 17 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 11 Apr | 40.6 °C | 10 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 12 Apr | 41.4 °C | 9 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 13 Apr | 40.3 °C | 16 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 14 Apr | 39.4 °C | 20 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 15 Apr | 39.2 °C | 22 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 16 Apr | 40.3 °C | 22 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 17 Apr | 41.4 °C | 17 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 18 Apr | 40.6 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 19 Apr | 38.7 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 1.0 mm | High 33 |
| 20 Apr | 39.6 °C | 31 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 21 Apr | 39.4 °C | 31 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 22 Apr | 40.4 °C | 21 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 23 Apr | 41.1 °C | 18 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 24 Apr | 41.3 °C | 16 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 25 Apr after | 40.7 °C | 17 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 26 Apr after | 41.0 °C | 18 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 27 Apr after | 41.2 °C | 19 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 28 Apr after | 41.3 °C | 17 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 29 Apr after | 40.6 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 30 Apr after | 39.3 °C | 22 % | 31 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 46 |
| 1 May after | 37.4 °C | 30 % | 36 km/h | 1.5 mm | High 28 |
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 · 308Every 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 Usur fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 April 2017 and 24 April 2017: 14 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 6,505 hectares (65.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Usur (6,435 ha, 2.7 %); Bijapur (112 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 41.4 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 53, 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
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.