Yamkeshwar fire, April 2016 Yamkeshwar, Kotdwara
The fire started on 17 April 2016 in Yamkeshwar, India, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,751 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 14th largest in Uttarākhand since 2016 (of 16 with a page). Number 39 in India in 2016, of 47.
The power measured by the satellite is low (22.9 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
- 5,751ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 13days
- 17 Apr 2016 – 29 Apr 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- subdistricts
- Started on
- 17 Apr
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 280
- in a single hotspot: 23 MW
- Danger at start
- 39
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.4GW
- 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 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.1 mm on 5 May.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Yamkeshwar where it started4,025 ha reached on 16 Apr7.4 %
-
1,746 ha reached on 18 Apr1.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Apr | 32.6 °C | 25 % | 41 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 39 |
| 12 Apr | 33.4 °C | 25 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 13 Apr | 34.5 °C | 22 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 14 Apr | 35.9 °C | 18 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 15 Apr | 35.9 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 16 Apr | 37.6 °C | 25 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 17 Apr | 39.2 °C | 22 % | 32 km/h | 0.5 mm | Very high 39 |
| 18 Apr | 35.5 °C | 27 % | 35 km/h | 2.7 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 19 Apr | 37.3 °C | 25 % | 35 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 32 |
| 20 Apr | 37.8 °C | 22 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 21 Apr | 37.0 °C | 21 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 22 Apr | 35.1 °C | 22 % | 46 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 44 |
| 23 Apr | 34.2 °C | 16 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 24 Apr | 34.0 °C | 18 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 25 Apr | 35.5 °C | 15 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 26 Apr | 37.5 °C | 14 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 27 Apr | 37.4 °C | 14 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 28 Apr | 36.8 °C | 17 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 29 Apr | 36.1 °C | 17 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 30 Apr after | 36.9 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 1 May after | 38.2 °C | 20 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 2 May after | 39.0 °C | 18 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 3 May after | 35.3 °C | 34 % | 34 km/h | 2.1 mm | High 22 |
| 4 May after | 35.0 °C | 32 % | 34 km/h | 3.8 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 5 May after | 32.2 °C | 34 % | 35 km/h | 3.1 mm | Low 9 |
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 · 280Every 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 Yamkeshwar fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 April 2016 and 29 April 2016: 13 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 5,751 hectares (57.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yamkeshwar (4,025 ha, 7.4 %); Kotdwara (1,746 ha, 1.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.2 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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.