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Yingjiang County fire, March 2018 China

Out · last measured on 2 Apr 2018

The fire started on 5 March 2018 in Yingjiang County, China, and satellites saw it burning for 29 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,714 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 20th largest in Yunnan Province since 2016 (of 380 with a page). Number 2 in China in 2018, of 54.

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
3,714ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
29days
5 Mar 2018 – 2 Apr 2018
Municipalities hit
0
counties
Started on
5 Mar
2018
Danger at start
21
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

36°high
34km/h · peak gust
28%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.8 mm on 8 Apr.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

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)
5 Mar 32.7 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
6 Mar 31.1 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
7 Mar 30.8 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
8 Mar 31.2 °C 34 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
9 Mar 32.4 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
10 Mar 32.9 °C 33 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
11 Mar 31.5 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
12 Mar 30.7 °C 35 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
13 Mar 28.5 °C 43 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
14 Mar 30.1 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
15 Mar 30.7 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
16 Mar 29.3 °C 48 % 33 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 14
17 Mar 28.9 °C 48 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
18 Mar 28.6 °C 45 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 20
19 Mar 30.9 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
20 Mar 32.7 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
21 Mar 33.3 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Mar 33.7 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Mar 33.2 °C 37 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
24 Mar 32.6 °C 34 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
25 Mar 32.9 °C 34 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Mar 33.6 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
27 Mar 24.8 °C 57 % 23 km/h 1.7 mm Low 8
28 Mar 30.0 °C 42 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
29 Mar 33.4 °C 37 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
30 Mar 33.7 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.4 mm High 27
31 Mar 34.5 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
1 Apr 35.3 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
2 Apr 35.6 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
3 Apr after 35.9 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
4 Apr after 33.5 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.3 mm High 31
5 Apr after 32.0 °C 38 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
6 Apr after 32.2 °C 38 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
7 Apr after 31.8 °C 37 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
8 Apr after 26.4 °C 54 % 20 km/h 1.8 mm Low 8

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 26 Feb 2018
After · 9 Apr 2018

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

Other fires nearby

All fires in China ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Yingjiang County fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 5 March 2018 and 2 April 2018: 29 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 3,714 hectares (37.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.6 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of China (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: 119

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
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 119.

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.