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Bawlake fire, 15 March 2023 Shadaw, Bawlake

Out · last detection 14 Apr 2023, 07:16 UTC

The fire started on 15 March 2023 in Bawlake, Myanmar, and satellites saw it burning for 30 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 15,504 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 15th largest in Kayah since 2016 (of 209 with a page). Number 9 in Myanmar in 2023, of 240.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Mueang Mae Hong Son · 2019Mueang Mae Hong Son · 2016Mueang Mae Hong Son · 2017Bawlake · 2020

Burnt area
15,504ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
30days
15 Mar 2023 – 13 Apr 2023
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
15 Mar
2023
Heat detections
256
in a single hotspot: 96 MW
Danger at start
17
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
29MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Mar13 Apr
14 Apr 2023

How it evolved, day by day

15 Mar 2023 · 6 MW · 4 16 Mar 2023 · 3 MW · 1 17 Mar 2023 · 6 MW · 1 18 Mar 2023 · 10 MW · 4 19 Mar 2023 · 24 MW · 4 20 Mar 2023 · 5 MW · 4 21 Mar 2023 · 13 MW · 12 22 Mar 2023 · 28 MW · 14 23 Mar 2023 · 56 MW · 18 24 Mar 2023 · 84 MW · 8 25 Mar 2023 · 187 MW · 27 26 Mar 2023 · 58 MW · 23 27 Mar 2023 · 12 MW · 8 28 Mar 2023 · 10 MW · 3 29 Mar 2023 · 7 MW · 7 30 Mar 2023 · 32 MW · 17 31 Mar 2023 · 90 MW · 45 1 Apr 2023 · 71 MW · 25 2 Apr 2023 · 26 MW · 4 3 Apr 2023 · 7 MW · 4 4 Apr 2023 · 1 MW · 1 5 Apr 2023 · 12 MW · 5 6 Apr 2023 · 28 MW · 5 7 Apr 2023 · 4 MW · 2 10 Apr 2023 · 12 MW · 4 11 Apr 2023 · 3 MW · 2 13 Apr 2023 · 27 MW · 3 14 Apr 2023 · 3 MW · 1
15 Mar 19 Mar 23 Mar 25 Mar 27 Mar 31 Mar 4 Apr 10 Apr

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
46km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

87% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,766 ha in 2016, 4,072 ha in 2017, 3,243 ha in 2018, 6,097 ha in 2019, 7,655 ha in 2020, 6,847 ha in 2021, 1,724 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 13,441 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 9.8% of the area of London (155 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. Shadaw
    8,080 ha reached on 15 Mar
    3.7 %
  2. Bawlake where it started
    6,320 ha reached on 21 Mar
    3.2 %

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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
15 Mar 31.6 °C 37 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
16 Mar 31.3 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 16
17 Mar 33.0 °C 30 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
18 Mar 31.7 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm High 24
19 Mar 31.1 °C 43 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
20 Mar 31.5 °C 38 % 31 km/h 0.2 mm High 22
21 Mar 33.0 °C 33 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm High 24
22 Mar 34.0 °C 25 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Mar 34.4 °C 25 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
24 Mar 34.3 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
25 Mar 34.2 °C 27 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
26 Mar 35.1 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Mar 35.1 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
28 Mar 36.2 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
29 Mar 36.1 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
30 Mar 36.2 °C 24 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
31 Mar 35.2 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
1 Apr 35.7 °C 29 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
2 Apr 34.7 °C 27 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Apr 34.4 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
4 Apr 35.1 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
5 Apr 36.3 °C 21 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
6 Apr 36.2 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
7 Apr 36.1 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
8 Apr 37.3 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
9 Apr 37.4 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
10 Apr 38.2 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 Apr 37.4 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
12 Apr 37.7 °C 26 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Apr 37.5 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
14 Apr after 38.5 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
15 Apr after 38.5 °C 25 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Apr after 37.2 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
17 Apr after 37.1 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
18 Apr after 38.3 °C 29 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
19 Apr after 36.8 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm High 35
20 Apr after 37.7 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.3 mm High 36
21 Apr after 37.2 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
22 Apr after 37.8 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm High 38
23 Apr after 37.7 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 39

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Mar 2023
After · 20 Apr 2023

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 6 April 2023 the air beside the fire reached 80 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 47: 3.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak80 µg/m³
Days over the guideline24 days
PM10116 µg/m³
Optical depth1.37
181920212223242526272829303112345678910
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 · 256Every 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 Myanmar ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bawlake fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 March 2023 to 13 April 2023 (30 days). The perimeter dates it from 20 March 2023 to 7 April 2023.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 15,504 hectares (155.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Shadaw (8,080 ha, 3.7 %); Bawlake (6,320 ha, 3.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.2 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Myanmar (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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 7 April 2023 → 13 April 2023.
  2. Start date: 20 March 2023 → 15 March 2023.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

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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 20 March 2023 to 7 April 2023. 256 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 ADM3 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (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.