Chomphet fire, 14 March 2023 Chomphet, Nga
The fire started on 14 March 2023 in Chomphet, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 24 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 12,472 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 11th largest in Luang Prabang since 2016 (of 293 with a page). Number 18 in Laos in 2023, of 214.
- Burnt area
- 12,472ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 24days
- 14 Mar 2023 – 6 Apr 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 14 Mar
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 680
- in a single hotspot: 307 MW
- Danger at start
- 22
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 14.9GW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
75% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,529 ha in 2016, 4,733 ha in 2017, 3,226 ha in 2018, 95 ha in 2019, 3,157 ha in 2020, 3,593 ha in 2021, 3,506 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 9,415 ha that had burned before.
- 2,957 ha Chomphet fire, March 2016 4,488 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,414 ha Chomphet fire, March 2021 2,805 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,093 ha Chomphet fire, April 2022 2,782 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,713 ha Chomphet fire, April 2018 2,276 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,504 ha Chomphet fire, April 2017 5,689 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,173 ha Chomphet fire, April 2022 2,306 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,125 ha Chomphet fire, March 2020 3,838 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 824 ha Chomphet fire, April 2018 3,018 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Chomphet where it started12,544 ha reached on 14 Mar9.4 %
-
0 ha reached on 18 Mar0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Mar | 34.9 °C | 39 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 21 Mar | 34.4 °C | 38 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 22 Mar | 35.7 °C | 32 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 23 Mar | 36.5 °C | 29 % | 46 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 32 |
| 24 Mar | 35.4 °C | 33 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 25 Mar | 35.8 °C | 34 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 26 Mar | 34.8 °C | 34 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 27 Mar | 34.2 °C | 39 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 28 Mar | 33.6 °C | 47 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 29 Mar | 33.5 °C | 43 % | 42 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 24 |
| 30 Mar | 32.7 °C | 51 % | 35 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 31 Mar | 34.1 °C | 42 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 1 Apr | 35.5 °C | 37 % | 41 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 27 |
| 2 Apr | 36.6 °C | 30 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 3 Apr | 35.8 °C | 32 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 4 Apr | 36.1 °C | 30 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 5 Apr | 35.9 °C | 30 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 6 Apr | 35.7 °C | 35 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 7 Apr after | 35.7 °C | 36 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 8 Apr after | 33.4 °C | 50 % | 30 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 26 |
| 9 Apr after | 34.7 °C | 50 % | 43 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 26 |
| 10 Apr after | 37.1 °C | 37 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 11 Apr after | 37.9 °C | 36 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 12 Apr after | 37.7 °C | 36 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 13 Apr after | 37.5 °C | 39 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 14 Apr after | 38.4 °C | 38 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 15 Apr after | 36.7 °C | 44 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 16 Apr after | 35.7 °C | 48 % | 41 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 28 |
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 · 680Every 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 Chomphet fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 14 March 2023 to 6 April 2023 (24 days). The perimeter dates it from 20 March 2023 to 6 April 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 12,472 hectares (124.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Chomphet (12,544 ha, 9.4 %); Nga (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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.