Beng fire, 16 March 2020 Beng, Xay
The fire started on 16 March 2020 in Beng, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 23 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,154 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 35th largest in Oudomxay since 2016 (of 241 with a page). Number 23 in Laos in 2020, of 169.
- Burnt area
- 7,154ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 23days
- 16 Mar 2020 – 7 Apr 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 16 Mar
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 425
- in a single hotspot: 480 MW
- Danger at start
- 24
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 23.8GW
- 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 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.5 mm on 8 Apr.
This area had burned before
76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,044 ha in 2016, 2,703 ha in 2017, 1,467 ha in 2018, 2,318 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,414 ha that had burned before.
- 1,771 ha Beng fire, April 2017 3,623 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,165 ha Beng fire, March 2019 4,543 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,153 ha Beng fire, March 2019 2,665 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 834 ha Beng fire, April 2018 2,004 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 634 ha Xay fire, April 2018 3,131 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 515 ha Xay fire, April 2017 3,130 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 99 ha Xay fire, April 2016 4,640 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 72 ha Beng fire, April 2017 9,651 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Beng where it started4,723 ha reached on 18 Mar2.8 %
-
2,469 ha reached on 24 Mar1.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Mar | 32.2 °C | 46 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 17 Mar | 34.9 °C | 30 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 18 Mar | 34.8 °C | 24 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 19 Mar | 34.3 °C | 22 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 20 Mar | 31.5 °C | 39 % | 45 km/h | 3.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 21 Mar | 32.5 °C | 31 % | 47 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 22 Mar | 32.1 °C | 34 % | 39 km/h | 1.8 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 23 Mar | 30.6 °C | 37 % | 40 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 22 |
| 24 Mar | 29.1 °C | 54 % | 41 km/h | 10.6 mm | Very low 3 |
| 25 Mar | 31.1 °C | 42 % | 49 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 11 |
| 26 Mar | 33.2 °C | 23 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 27 Mar | 34.4 °C | 25 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 28 Mar | 35.1 °C | 25 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 29 Mar | 35.9 °C | 24 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 30 Mar | 36.1 °C | 25 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 31 Mar | 36.3 °C | 25 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 1 Apr | 36.2 °C | 22 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 2 Apr | 34.9 °C | 27 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 3 Apr | 35.5 °C | 24 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 4 Apr | 36.2 °C | 24 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 5 Apr | 30.0 °C | 58 % | 42 km/h | 8.1 mm | Very low 3 |
| 6 Apr | 30.2 °C | 45 % | 44 km/h | 0.6 mm | Low 8 |
| 7 Apr | 31.1 °C | 45 % | 38 km/h | 0.5 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 8 Apr after | 32.0 °C | 42 % | 43 km/h | 4.5 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 · 425Every 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 Beng fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 16 March 2020 to 7 April 2020 (23 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 March 2020 to 4 April 2020.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 7,154 hectares (71.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Beng (4,723 ha, 2.8 %); Xay (2,469 ha, 1.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.3 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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.