Burned area
satellite only36,302ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- 18 Jul 2021 – 16 Aug 2021
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
RU · Russia · –
Vilyuysky Ulus fire, 18 July 2021 Vilyuysky Ulus, Verkhnevilyuysky Ulus
Out · last detection 16 Aug 2021, 18:54 UTC
The fire started on 18 July 2021 in Vilyuysky Ulus, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 30 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 36,302 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 109th largest in Sakha Republic since 2016 (of 1347 with a page). Number 50 in Russia in 2021, of 581.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-25matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only30days
18 Jul 2021 to 16 Aug 2021: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 16 Aug 2021, 18:54 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only18 Jul 2021
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 18 Jul 2021
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only7,842
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 226 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 18 Jul 2021 – 16 Aug 2021
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only9,032MW
Total radiative power on 5 August 2021; hotspots that day: 1,258.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 5 Aug 2021
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model21.9FWI · high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 8.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 18 Jul 2021, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model32.0°C · 32% RH
High of 32.0 °C and minimum humidity of 32% on 26 July 2021; gusts of 52 km/h on 7 August 2021.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 18 Jul 2021 – 16 Aug 2021
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
logLast day with fire: 13 August 2021 → 16 August 2021.
-
logStart date: 24 July 2021 → 18 July 2021.
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
What was saved on 25 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 36,302 ha
- Dates
- 18 Jul 2021 – 16 Aug 2021
- Name
- Vilyuysky Ulus
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/vilyuysky-ulus-2021-07-3?v=2026-10-25A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire vilyuysky-ulus-2021-07-3.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-07-18 | 2 | 3 | 23.3 | 12.1 | 31 | 13.2 | 23.8 | 0 | 21.9 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-07-19 | 0 | 0 | 21.7 | 15.5 | 50 | 18.2 | 45.4 | 0 | 26.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-07-20 | 0 | 0 | 22.7 | 12.1 | 52 | 13.7 | 25.9 | 0 | 17.9 | moderado | 1 |
| 2021-07-21 | 1 | 3 | 25.9 | 13.2 | 37 | 8.1 | 27.4 | 0 | 19.4 | moderado | 1 |
| 2021-07-22 | 0 | 0 | 24.7 | 13.4 | 53 | 8 | 27.4 | 1.3 | 11.3 | moderado | 1 |
| 2021-07-23 | 0 | 0 | 24.5 | 13.2 | 51 | 8.9 | 22 | 0 | 13.6 | moderado | 1 |
| 2021-07-24 | 11 | 114 | 27.9 | 13.6 | 31 | 16.5 | 37.1 | 0 | 24.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-07-25 | 74 | 738 | 26.8 | 13.8 | 26 | 14 | 34.9 | 0 | 30.1 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-07-26 | 213 | 2,941 | 32 | 15.5 | 32 | 13.2 | 33.8 | 0 | 29.5 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-07-27 | 157 | 659 | 27.5 | 17.3 | 46 | 10.8 | 30.2 | 0 | 26.3 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-07-28 | 112 | 615 | 24.9 | 13.5 | 38 | 12 | 26.6 | 0 | 25.6 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-07-29 | 360 | 6,398 | 24.6 | 10.2 | 29 | 11.6 | 26.6 | 0 | 25.9 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-07-30 | 416 | 5,074 | 25.5 | 8.4 | 34 | 9.9 | 18.4 | 0 | 20.9 | moderado | 1 |
| 2021-07-31 | 288 | 1,379 | 26.5 | 9 | 27 | 8.6 | 14.8 | 0 | 21.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-08-01 | 307 | 1,610 | 26.8 | 10.7 | 35 | 10 | 21.2 | 0 | 25.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-08-02 | 542 | 4,021 | 29.3 | 12.7 | 35 | 15.8 | 36 | 0 | 27 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-08-03 | 157 | 1,220 | 27.9 | 14.2 | 24 | 13.7 | 33.1 | 0 | 31.2 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-08-04 | 316 | 1,058 | 27.5 | 12.9 | 32 | 12.6 | 29.9 | 0 | 30.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-08-05 | 1,258 | 9,032 | 27 | 13.9 | 27 | 16.6 | 37.8 | 0 | 30.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-08-06 | 922 | 8,775 | 20.7 | 11.1 | 38 | 15.5 | 39.6 | 0 | 35.2 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-08-07 | 403 | 1,376 | 22.1 | 12.5 | 38 | 22.1 | 51.5 | 0 | 40.2 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2021-08-08 | 69 | 401 | 23.8 | 17.6 | 48 | 20.5 | 50 | 0.4 | 36.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-08-09 | 449 | 3,216 | 25.9 | 18 | 46 | 15 | 35.6 | 0 | 25.1 | alto | 1 |
| 2021-08-10 | 426 | 2,707 | 21.3 | 16.5 | 56 | 14.6 | 37.8 | 3.1 | 5.6 | bajo | 1 |
| 2021-08-11 | 546 | 2,633 | 23.9 | 13.8 | 49 | 10.6 | 28.1 | 0 | 7.5 | bajo | 1 |
| 2021-08-12 | 532 | 3,579 | 23.8 | 11.1 | 53 | 9 | 25.6 | 0.2 | 9.9 | bajo | 1 |
| 2021-08-13 | 279 | 1,021 | 25.1 | 9.3 | 47 | 9 | 24.5 | 0 | 16.2 | moderado | 1 |
| 2021-08-14 | 0 | 0 | 18.3 | 13.5 | 59 | 15 | 36.7 | 0.1 | 20.5 | moderado | 1 |
| 2021-08-15 | 0 | 0 | 14.1 | 8.5 | 66 | 11.5 | 27.7 | 16.2 | 0 | muy_bajo | 1 |
| 2021-08-16 | 2 | 2 | 15.8 | 9 | 61 | 7 | 25.9 | 1.3 | 0.6 | muy_bajo | 1 |
| 2021-08-17 | 0 | 0 | 18.6 | 7.9 | 47 | 7.3 | 18.4 | 0 | 3.6 | muy_bajo | 0 |
| 2021-08-18 | 0 | 0 | 15.2 | 10.3 | 72 | 9.4 | 21.2 | 4.9 | 2.1 | muy_bajo | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: GWIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 36,302ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 30days
- 18 Jul 2021 – 16 Aug 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 18 Jul
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 7,842
- in a single hotspot: 226 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
18 Jul16 Aug
16 Aug 2021
How it evolved, day by day
18 Jul
27 Jul
1 Aug
5 Aug
11 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
32°high
52km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity
It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.9 mm on 18 Aug.
This area had burned before
0% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 124 ha in 2018.
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Moscow boundary: geoBoundaries · OpenStreetMap, Wambacher · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Vilyuysky Ulus where it started35,867 ha reached on 18 Jul0.7 %
-
501 ha reached on 6 Aug0.0 %
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 2020Built-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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Jul | 23.3 °C | 31 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 19 Jul | 21.7 °C | 50 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 20 Jul | 22.7 °C | 52 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 21 Jul | 25.9 °C | 37 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 22 Jul | 24.7 °C | 53 % | 27 km/h | 1.3 mm | Moderate 11 |
| 23 Jul | 24.5 °C | 51 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 24 Jul | 27.9 °C | 31 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 25 Jul | 26.8 °C | 26 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 26 Jul | 32.0 °C | 32 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 27 Jul | 27.5 °C | 46 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Jul | 24.9 °C | 38 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 29 Jul | 24.6 °C | 29 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 30 Jul | 25.5 °C | 34 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 31 Jul | 26.5 °C | 27 % | 15 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 1 Aug | 26.8 °C | 35 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 2 Aug | 29.3 °C | 35 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 3 Aug | 27.9 °C | 24 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 4 Aug | 27.5 °C | 32 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 5 Aug | 27.0 °C | 27 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 6 Aug | 20.7 °C | 38 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 7 Aug | 22.1 °C | 38 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 8 Aug | 23.8 °C | 48 % | 50 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 37 |
| 9 Aug | 25.9 °C | 46 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 10 Aug | 21.3 °C | 56 % | 38 km/h | 3.1 mm | Low 6 |
| 11 Aug | 23.9 °C | 49 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 8 |
| 12 Aug | 23.8 °C | 53 % | 26 km/h | 0.2 mm | Low 10 |
| 13 Aug | 25.1 °C | 47 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 14 Aug | 18.3 °C | 59 % | 37 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 15 Aug | 14.1 °C | 66 % | 28 km/h | 16.2 mm | Very low 0 |
| 16 Aug | 15.8 °C | 61 % | 26 km/h | 1.3 mm | Very low 1 |
| 17 Aug after | 18.6 °C | 47 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very low 4 |
| 18 Aug after | 15.2 °C | 72 % | 21 km/h | 4.9 mm | Very low 2 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 21.9, a minimum humidity of 31% and 8 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 42.
FWI at the start
21.9
Minimum humidity
31 %
Days without rain
8
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Vilyuysky Ulus fire, 18 July 2021
36,302 ha
30 days
FWI 21.9
Min. humidity 31 %
Vilyuysky Ulus fire, June 2020
33,346 ha
21 days
FWI 22.9
Min. humidity 31 %
166 km away, in 2020
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.0 mm on 20 Jul.
Vilyuysky Ulus fire, June 2020
5,333 ha
22 days
FWI 23.9
Min. humidity 31 %
144 km away, in 2020
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 5.9 mm on 12 Jul.
Nyurbinsky Ulus fire, July 2018
3,407 ha
2 days
FWI 22.9
Min. humidity 33 %
75 km away, in 2018
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 10.9 mm on 4 Jul.
Olenyoksky Ulus fire, July 2019
4,338 ha
13 days
FWI 20.8
Min. humidity 32 %
190 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.4 mm on 2 Aug.
Nyurbinsky Ulus fire, August 2017
23,048 ha
13 days
FWI 20.4
Min. humidity 32 %
124 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.2 mm on 24 Aug.
What happened to them
- 10 days
- median duration
- 6,591 ha
- median area
- 40 %
- went past 10,000 ha
- 4.0 mm
- rain at the end (median; 42 of 42 had it)
It was 5.5 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 30 days, against 10 days.
Only 4 of its 42 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
4.9 mmfirst rain
18 Aug2 days after it ended
52km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 16 Aug, and on 18 Aug 4.9 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 42 of 42, 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.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 11 Jul 2021
After · 23 Aug 2021
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 · 7,842Every 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 time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Vilyuysky Ulus fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 18 July 2021 to 16 August 2021 (30 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 July 2021 to 13 August 2021.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 36,302 hectares (363.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Vilyuysky Ulus (35,867 ha, 0.7 %); Verkhnevilyuysky Ulus (501 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.0 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, 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: 42. Their median duration was 10 days and their median area 6,591 ha; 40 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 4 of its 42 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.
- Last day with fire: 13 August 2021 → 16 August 2021.
- Start date: 24 July 2021 → 18 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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 24 July 2021 to 13 August 2021. 7,842 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.
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.