Beng fire, 18 March 2023 Beng, Nalae, Hoon
The fire started on 18 March 2023 in Beng, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 26 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,734 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 12th largest in Oudomxay since 2016 (of 241 with a page). Number 19 in Laos in 2023, of 214.
- Burnt area
- 11,734ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 26days
- 18 Mar 2023 – 12 Apr 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- districts
- Started on
- 18 Mar
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 506
- in a single hotspot: 374 MW
- Danger at start
- 30
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 18.7GW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
82% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,290 ha in 2016, 3,181 ha in 2017, 4,634 ha in 2018, 4,455 ha in 2019, 975 ha in 2020, 1,315 ha in 2021, 2,052 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 9,660 ha that had burned before.
- 1,813 ha Beng fire, April 2017 3,197 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,215 ha Beng fire, April 2017 2,341 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,039 ha Beng fire, April 2018 2,274 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 285 ha Beng fire, April 2018 3,600 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 153 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 started11,343 ha reached on 18 Mar6.8 %
-
315 ha reached on 26 Mar0.2 %
-
141 ha reached on 19 Mar0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Mar | 33.1 °C | 29 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 23 Mar | 33.5 °C | 24 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 24 Mar | 33.5 °C | 28 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 25 Mar | 33.2 °C | 31 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 26 Mar | 32.8 °C | 28 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 27 Mar | 32.6 °C | 33 % | 37 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 31 |
| 28 Mar | 32.4 °C | 35 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Mar | 32.2 °C | 36 % | 41 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 31 |
| 30 Mar | 31.8 °C | 34 % | 37 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 30 |
| 31 Mar | 32.6 °C | 34 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 1 Apr | 33.9 °C | 31 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 2 Apr | 34.0 °C | 29 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 3 Apr | 33.1 °C | 29 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 4 Apr | 33.5 °C | 27 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 5 Apr | 33.9 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 6 Apr | 34.3 °C | 28 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 7 Apr | 33.8 °C | 32 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 8 Apr | 32.3 °C | 43 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 9 Apr | 33.6 °C | 44 % | 43 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 29 |
| 10 Apr | 35.6 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 11 Apr | 36.2 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 12 Apr | 35.8 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 13 Apr after | 35.8 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 14 Apr after | 36.7 °C | 29 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 15 Apr after | 36.2 °C | 29 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
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 · 506Every 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 18 March 2023 to 12 April 2023 (26 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 March 2023 to 5 April 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 11,734 hectares (117.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Beng (11,343 ha, 6.8 %); Nalae (315 ha, 0.2 %); Hoon (141 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.0 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, 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.