Aek Phnum fire, 24 April 2019 Aek Phnum, Sangkae
The fire started on 24 April 2019 in Aek Phnum, Cambodia, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,012 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 6th largest in Battambang since 2016 (of 26 with a page). Number 6 in Cambodia in 2019, of 65.
- Burnt area
- 6,012ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 13days
- 24 Apr 2019 – 6 May 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 24 Apr
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 340
- in a single hotspot: 108 MW
- Danger at start
- 23
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.6GW
- 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: 7.0 mm on 8 May.
This area had burned before
31% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,970 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,866 ha that had burned before.
- 713 ha Aek Phnum fire, April 2016 3,581 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 314 ha Aek Phnum fire, February 2016 3,185 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 270 ha Aek Phnum fire, March 2016 64,197 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Aek Phnum where it started5,253 ha reached on 17 Apr4.9 %
-
796 ha reached on 19 Apr0.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Apr | 40.5 °C | 36 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 25 Apr | 40.5 °C | 35 % | 33 km/h | 2.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 26 Apr | 39.6 °C | 39 % | 21 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 27 Apr | 38.7 °C | 41 % | 24 km/h | 2.4 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 28 Apr | 39.8 °C | 35 % | 25 km/h | 1.4 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 29 Apr | 39.2 °C | 35 % | 27 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 24 |
| 30 Apr | 39.2 °C | 35 % | 31 km/h | 1.4 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 1 May | 40.7 °C | 35 % | 37 km/h | 2.3 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 2 May | 40.5 °C | 35 % | 33 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 24 |
| 3 May | 40.7 °C | 31 % | 24 km/h | 1.7 mm | High 22 |
| 4 May | 41.0 °C | 31 % | 38 km/h | 9.6 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 5 May | 39.0 °C | 43 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 6 May | 38.5 °C | 44 % | 37 km/h | 4.6 mm | Low 8 |
| 7 May after | 37.7 °C | 48 % | 24 km/h | 0.6 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 8 May after | 39.1 °C | 40 % | 33 km/h | 7.0 mm | Low 6 |
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 · 340Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 4,002 haAek PhnumFebruary 2020 · 15 days · 12 km away
- 4,046 haAek PhnumApril 2024 · 10 days · 20 km away
- 25,741 haSangkaeApril 2019 · 22 days · 28 km away
- 7,324 haSangkaeApril 2024 · 17 days · 28 km away
- 64,197 haAek PhnumMarch 2016 · 59 days · 31 km away
- 5,594 haMoung RuesseiFebruary 2016 · 12 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Aek Phnum fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 24 April 2019 and 6 May 2019: 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 6,012 hectares (60.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Aek Phnum (5,253 ha, 4.9 %); Sangkae (796 ha, 0.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 41.0 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Cambodia (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 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.