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MM · Myanmar · –

Hpruso fire, 6 March 2025 Hpruso, Bawlake

Out · last detection 26 Mar 2025, 18:54 UTC

The fire started on 6 March 2025 in Hpruso, Myanmar, and satellites saw it burning for 22 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,719 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 42th largest in Kayah since 2016 (of 169 with a page). Number 28 in Myanmar in 2025, of 133.

Burnt area
4,719ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
22days
6 Mar 2025 – 27 Mar 2025
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
6 Mar
2025
Heat detections
213
in a single hotspot: 58 MW
Danger at start
19
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
103MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Mar27 Mar
26 Mar 2025

How it evolved, day by day

7 Mar 2025 · 2 MW · 1 10 Mar 2025 · 6 MW · 4 11 Mar 2025 · 6 MW · 2 13 Mar 2025 · 28 MW · 6 14 Mar 2025 · 167 MW · 30 15 Mar 2025 · 101 MW · 18 16 Mar 2025 · 32 MW · 7 17 Mar 2025 · 467 MW · 35 18 Mar 2025 · 471 MW · 36 19 Mar 2025 · 33 MW · 11 20 Mar 2025 · 186 MW · 39 21 Mar 2025 · 30 MW · 4 23 Mar 2025 · 2 MW · 1 24 Mar 2025 · 47 MW · 4 25 Mar 2025 · 63 MW · 12 26 Mar 2025 · 6 MW · 3
7 Mar 14 Mar 18 Mar 23 Mar

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
36km/h · peak gust
31%lowest humidity

It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

91% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 728 ha in 2016, 3,152 ha in 2017, 1,706 ha in 2019, 491 ha in 2020, 1,714 ha in 2021, 1,617 ha in 2022, 1,144 ha in 2023, 1,576 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,286 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 3% of the area of London (47 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. Hpruso where it started
    3,218 ha reached on 13 Mar
    1.9 %
  2. 1,526 ha reached on 7 Mar
    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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
6 Mar 32.6 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
7 Mar 34.2 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
8 Mar 32.9 °C 45 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
9 Mar 32.7 °C 46 % 22 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
10 Mar 33.8 °C 43 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
11 Mar 35.5 °C 36 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
12 Mar 33.9 °C 43 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
13 Mar 35.5 °C 31 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
14 Mar 35.5 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
15 Mar 35.9 °C 38 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
16 Mar 35.5 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
17 Mar 36.5 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
18 Mar 35.7 °C 39 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
19 Mar 32.9 °C 52 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
20 Mar 32.9 °C 46 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
21 Mar 31.9 °C 53 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
22 Mar 33.2 °C 49 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
23 Mar 34.9 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
24 Mar 35.4 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
25 Mar 34.2 °C 37 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
26 Mar 34.9 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
27 Mar 35.2 °C 35 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
28 Mar after 33.3 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
29 Mar after 34.3 °C 29 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
30 Mar after 37.3 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
31 Mar after 35.0 °C 36 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
1 Apr after 36.6 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
2 Apr after 35.7 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
3 Apr after 36.9 °C 37 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
4 Apr after 36.6 °C 36 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
5 Apr after 35.8 °C 38 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
6 Apr after 31.8 °C 50 % 33 km/h 0.5 mm High 24

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 18.9, a minimum humidity of 41% and 8 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 26.

FWI at the start 18.9
Minimum humidity 41 %
Days without rain 8
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Loikaw fire, January 2021
2,032 ha 12 days FWI 18.7 Min. humidity 41 % 26 km away, in 2021

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

What happened to them

12 days
median duration
2,079 ha
median area
96 %
went past 1,000 ha
2.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 9 of 26 had it)

It was 2.3 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 22 days, against 12 days.

Only 4 of its 26 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 17 of 26, 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 2.4 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

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
36km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 27 Mar, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 9 of 26, with a median of 2.4 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 · 27 Feb 2025
After · 3 Apr 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 20 March 2025 the air beside the fire reached 170 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 97: 6.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak170 µg/m³
Days over the guideline13 days
PM10175 µg/m³
Optical depth1.57
11 Mar14 Mar17 Mar20 Mar23 Mar
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 · 213Every 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 Hpruso fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 March 2025 to 27 March 2025 (22 days). The perimeter dates it from 13 March 2025 to 20 March 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,719 hectares (47.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Hpruso (3,218 ha, 1.9 %); Bawlake (1,526 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.5 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 36 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 Myanmar (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: 26. Their median duration was 12 days and their median area 2,079 ha; 96 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 4 of its 26 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 17 of 26, 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 2.4 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.

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: 20 March 2025 → 27 March 2025.
  2. Start date: 13 March 2025 → 6 March 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.

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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 13 March 2025 to 20 March 2025. 213 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.