Add fire, 10 April 2019 Add, Xiengkhor, Xamneua
The fire started on 10 April 2019 in Add, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,461 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 13th largest in Houaphan since 2016 (of 132 with a page). Number 11 in Laos in 2019, of 117.
- Burnt area
- 6,461ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 20days
- 10 Apr 2019 – 29 Apr 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- districts
- Started on
- 10 Apr
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 274
- in a single hotspot: 138 MW
- Danger at start
- 15
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.7GW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.8 mm on 1 May.
This area had burned before
60% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,375 ha in 2016, 969 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,895 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Add where it started3,328 ha reached on 10 Apr3.2 %
-
3,118 ha reached on 10 Apr3.9 %
-
44 ha reached on 11 Apr0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Apr | 32.0 °C | 38 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 11 Apr | 32.6 °C | 32 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 12 Apr | 32.8 °C | 34 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 13 Apr | 33.7 °C | 32 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 14 Apr | 32.7 °C | 40 % | 32 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 15 Apr | 29.4 °C | 62 % | 39 km/h | 6.2 mm | Very low 1 |
| 16 Apr | 31.3 °C | 56 % | 37 km/h | 5.6 mm | Very low 1 |
| 17 Apr | 32.7 °C | 45 % | 39 km/h | 1.0 mm | Very low 5 |
| 18 Apr | 34.9 °C | 27 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 19 Apr | 35.9 °C | 23 % | 58 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 20 Apr | 35.8 °C | 22 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 21 Apr | 35.0 °C | 33 % | 35 km/h | 1.5 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 22 Apr | 33.8 °C | 34 % | 39 km/h | 1.4 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 23 Apr | 34.5 °C | 34 % | 38 km/h | 1.5 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 24 Apr | 34.7 °C | 32 % | 49 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 22 |
| 25 Apr | 33.7 °C | 38 % | 33 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 26 Apr | 34.3 °C | 32 % | 33 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 27 Apr | 32.5 °C | 34 % | 42 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 28 Apr | 31.1 °C | 40 % | 47 km/h | 0.4 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 29 Apr | 32.9 °C | 37 % | 52 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 22 |
| 30 Apr after | 31.3 °C | 40 % | 49 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 22 |
| 1 May after | 28.7 °C | 61 % | 36 km/h | 3.8 mm | Very low 3 |
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 · 274Every 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 Add fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 10 April 2019 to 29 April 2019 (20 days). The perimeter dates it from 10 April 2019 to 22 April 2019.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,461 hectares (64.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Add (3,328 ha, 3.2 %); Xiengkhor (3,118 ha, 3.9 %); Xamneua (44 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 58 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Laos (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.
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 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.