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Verkhoyansky Ulus fire, 28 June 2019 Verkhoyansky Ulus

Out · last detection 20 Aug 2019, 17:43 UTC

The fire started on 28 June 2019 in Verkhoyansky Ulus, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 54 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 115,129 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 30th largest in Sakha Republic since 2016 (of 1422 with a page). Number 5 in Russia in 2019, of 610.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Verkhoyansky Ulus · 2018

Burnt area
115,129ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
54days
28 Jun 2019 – 20 Aug 2019
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
28 Jun
2019
Heat detections
21,534
in a single hotspot: 481 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Average daily power
4.4GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 28 Jun20 Aug
20 Aug 2019

How it evolved, day by day

28 Jun 2019 · 1,427 MW · 156 30 Jun 2019 · 81 MW · 13 3 Jul 2019 · 5 MW · 1 5 Jul 2019 · 275 MW · 39 6 Jul 2019 · 381 MW · 43 7 Jul 2019 · 594 MW · 89 8 Jul 2019 · 4,554 MW · 213 9 Jul 2019 · 23 MW · 5 10 Jul 2019 · 4,537 MW · 347 11 Jul 2019 · 1,762 MW · 207 12 Jul 2019 · 10,459 MW · 741 13 Jul 2019 · 2,167 MW · 249 14 Jul 2019 · 18 MW · 4 15 Jul 2019 · 3,857 MW · 344 16 Jul 2019 · 1,161 MW · 155 17 Jul 2019 · 5 MW · 1 18 Jul 2019 · 1,221 MW · 153 19 Jul 2019 · 1,451 MW · 219 20 Jul 2019 · 4,805 MW · 524 21 Jul 2019 · 6,706 MW · 260 22 Jul 2019 · 2,994 MW · 432 23 Jul 2019 · 25,056 MW · 1248 24 Jul 2019 · 18 MW · 3 28 Jul 2019 · 213 MW · 57 29 Jul 2019 · 148 MW · 58 30 Jul 2019 · 64 MW · 31 31 Jul 2019 · 857 MW · 137 1 Aug 2019 · 2,154 MW · 528 2 Aug 2019 · 8,317 MW · 1225 3 Aug 2019 · 14,788 MW · 1787 4 Aug 2019 · 20,636 MW · 1764 5 Aug 2019 · 9,607 MW · 696 6 Aug 2019 · 296 MW · 118 7 Aug 2019 · 3,890 MW · 474 8 Aug 2019 · 67 MW · 27 9 Aug 2019 · 1,682 MW · 411 10 Aug 2019 · 2,807 MW · 769 11 Aug 2019 · 14,889 MW · 1812 12 Aug 2019 · 20,161 MW · 2116 13 Aug 2019 · 12,377 MW · 1726 14 Aug 2019 · 3,998 MW · 944 15 Aug 2019 · 2,461 MW · 738 16 Aug 2019 · 3,147 MW · 579 17 Aug 2019 · 524 MW · 86 20 Aug 2019 · 9 MW · 5
28 Jun 9 Jul 16 Jul 23 Jul 2 Aug 9 Aug 16 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

29°high
54km/h · peak gust
32%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.6 mm on 21 Aug.

This area had burned before

0% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 443 ha in 2018.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 73% of the area of London (1,151 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. Verkhoyansky Ulus where it started
    122,979 ha reached on 28 Jun
    0.9 %

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)
28 Jun 25.7 °C 32 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Jun 16.4 °C 60 % 38 km/h 2.3 mm Low 7
30 Jun 18.3 °C 51 % 32 km/h 0.4 mm Low 10
1 Jul 20.2 °C 43 % 31 km/h 4.2 mm Very low 4
2 Jul 11.7 °C 62 % 37 km/h 0.7 mm Low 6
3 Jul 8.7 °C 76 % 38 km/h 0.3 mm Low 7
4 Jul 13.3 °C 55 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
5 Jul 16.9 °C 45 % 25 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 4
6 Jul 21.7 °C 36 % 29 km/h 1.1 mm Low 9
7 Jul 22.1 °C 46 % 24 km/h 3.8 mm Very low 3
8 Jul 23.6 °C 39 % 34 km/h 1.5 mm Low 7
9 Jul 24.5 °C 55 % 34 km/h 5.4 mm Very low 2
10 Jul 28.6 °C 37 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
11 Jul 25.6 °C 51 % 38 km/h 2.0 mm Low 6
12 Jul 27.1 °C 38 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
13 Jul 22.7 °C 55 % 38 km/h 2.4 mm Very low 5
14 Jul 17.5 °C 72 % 41 km/h 14.7 mm Very low 0
15 Jul 16.6 °C 50 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
16 Jul 14.8 °C 51 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
17 Jul 13.5 °C 70 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
18 Jul 8.9 °C 60 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
19 Jul 11.2 °C 55 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
20 Jul 13.9 °C 50 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
21 Jul 15.4 °C 55 % 54 km/h 6.8 mm Very low 1
22 Jul 9.9 °C 55 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
23 Jul 19.9 °C 33 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
24 Jul 17.0 °C 55 % 37 km/h 3.9 mm Very low 1
25 Jul 18.1 °C 76 % 35 km/h 14.8 mm Very low 0
26 Jul 14.2 °C 57 % 42 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 0
27 Jul 10.9 °C 56 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
28 Jul 13.0 °C 51 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
29 Jul 11.0 °C 62 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
30 Jul 10.4 °C 59 % 41 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 4
31 Jul 13.7 °C 53 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
1 Aug 14.3 °C 50 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
2 Aug 18.3 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
3 Aug 19.0 °C 36 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
4 Aug 19.2 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
5 Aug 19.6 °C 32 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
6 Aug 14.8 °C 76 % 41 km/h 2.3 mm Very low 2
7 Aug 20.0 °C 43 % 36 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 4
8 Aug 18.0 °C 60 % 27 km/h 5.6 mm Very low 0
9 Aug 18.4 °C 65 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 1
10 Aug 20.9 °C 51 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
11 Aug 24.0 °C 47 % 27 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 2
12 Aug 25.5 °C 39 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
13 Aug 21.9 °C 40 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
14 Aug 21.2 °C 48 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
15 Aug 20.1 °C 48 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
16 Aug 17.3 °C 58 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
17 Aug 17.1 °C 66 % 21 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 4
18 Aug 14.9 °C 76 % 16 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 2
19 Aug 18.9 °C 63 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
20 Aug 21.3 °C 61 % 16 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 4
21 Aug after 15.6 °C 83 % 19 km/h 7.6 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 21 Jun 2019
After · 27 Aug 2019

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 · 21,534Every 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

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Verkhoyansky Ulus fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 28 June 2019 to 20 August 2019 (54 days). The perimeter dates it from 5 July 2019 to 17 August 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 115,129 hectares (1,151.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Verkhoyansky Ulus (122,979 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.6 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, 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 · 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. Last day with fire: 17 August 2019 → 20 August 2019.
  2. Start date: 5 July 2019 → 28 June 2019.

RSS Changes to this page

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 5 July 2019 to 17 August 2019. 21,534 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.