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MN · Mongolia · –

Yero'o fire, April 2025 Yero'o

Out · last detection 15 May 2025, 05:55 UTC

The fire started on 29 April 2025 in Yero'o, Mongolia, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,017 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 4th largest in Selenge since 2016 (of 17 with a page). Number 3 in Mongolia in 2025, of 11.

Burnt area
7,017ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
17days
29 Apr 2025 – 15 May 2025
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
29 Apr
2025
Heat detections
582
in a single hotspot: 167 MW
Danger at start
15
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
388MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 29 Apr15 May
15 May 2025

How it evolved, day by day

29 Apr 2025 · 205 MW · 52 30 Apr 2025 · 189 MW · 27 1 May 2025 · 39 MW · 11 2 May 2025 · 312 MW · 41 3 May 2025 · 74 MW · 11 4 May 2025 · 314 MW · 33 5 May 2025 · 140 MW · 17 6 May 2025 · 54 MW · 18 7 May 2025 · 35 MW · 20 8 May 2025 · 643 MW · 73 9 May 2025 · 1,860 MW · 170 10 May 2025 · 1,550 MW · 100 11 May 2025 · 12 MW · 8 15 May 2025 · 3 MW · 1
29 Apr 2 May 5 May 9 May

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

24°high
68km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.5 mm on 19 May.

This area had burned before

2% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 35 ha in 2018, 75 ha in 2019.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 4.4% of the area of London (70 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. Yero'o where it started
    6,965 ha reached on 29 Apr
    0.8 %

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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)

Started with Strong wind: 56 % of the area in Mongolia

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
29 Apr 6.0 °C 18 % 68 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 15
30 Apr 10.5 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
1 May 8.2 °C 26 % 49 km/h 0.9 mm Low 8
2 May 9.2 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
3 May 13.2 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
4 May 14.9 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
5 May 13.7 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
6 May 15.0 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 14
7 May 15.0 °C 28 % 47 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
8 May 14.4 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
9 May 18.4 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
10 May 22.6 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
11 May 24.4 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
12 May 15.3 °C 59 % 45 km/h 12.3 mm Very low 0
13 May 9.7 °C 34 % 43 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 2
14 May 14.7 °C 32 % 45 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 5
15 May 11.1 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm Low 8
16 May after 8.7 °C 25 % 55 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 12
17 May after 10.2 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.6 mm Low 11
18 May after 14.7 °C 22 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
19 May after 18.4 °C 37 % 22 km/h 2.5 mm Very low 2

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 14.7, a minimum humidity of 18% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 16.

FWI at the start 14.7
Minimum humidity 18 %
Days without rain 3
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Yero'o fire, May 2018
3,690 ha 4 days FWI 11.0 Min. humidity 18 % 12 km away, in 2018

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 8.0 mm on 2 Jun.

What happened to them

7 days
median duration
3,726 ha
median area
12 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.7 mm
rain at the end (median; 15 of 16 had it)

It was 1.9 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 17 days, against 7 days.

Only 4 of its 16 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. In 1 of 16, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.7 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

2.5 mmfirst rain
19 May4 days after it ended
68km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 15 May, and on 19 May 2.5 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 15 of 16, with a median of 2.7 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.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 22 Apr 2025
After · 22 May 2025

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 11 May 2025 the air beside the fire reached 241 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 116: 7.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak241 µg/m³
Days over the guideline9 days
PM10256 µg/m³
Optical depth1.14
27 Apr1 May5 May9 May13 May
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 582Every 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 Mongolia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Yero'o fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 29 April 2025 to 15 May 2025 (17 days). The perimeter dates it from 29 April 2025 to 11 May 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 7,017 hectares (70.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Yero'o (6,965 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 24.4 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 68 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 22, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mongolia (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: 16. Their median duration was 7 days and their median area 3,726 ha; 12 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 4 of its 16 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. In 1 of 16, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.7 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: 105 · 101 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 11 May 2025 → 15 May 2025.

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
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 105 · 101.

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 29 April 2025 to 11 May 2025. 582 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 2025, 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 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.