Chomphet fire, 21 March 2023 Chomphet, Xayabury
The fire started on 21 March 2023 in Chomphet, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,201 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 35th largest in Luang Prabang since 2016 (of 293 with a page). Number 40 in Laos in 2023, of 214.
- Burnt area
- 6,201ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 21days
- 21 Mar 2023 – 10 Apr 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 21 Mar
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 306
- in a single hotspot: 169 MW
- Danger at start
- 16
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 6.7GW
- 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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
78% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 356 ha in 2016, 858 ha in 2017, 631 ha in 2018, 772 ha in 2019, 1,415 ha in 2020, 2,065 ha in 2021, 1,599 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,847 ha that had burned before.
- 1,415 ha Chomphet fire, March 2020 8,362 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,054 ha Chomphet fire, March 2021 2,029 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 530 ha Chomphet fire, April 2021 2,145 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 435 ha Xayabury fire, April 2019 2,013 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 356 ha Chomphet fire, April 2016 2,131 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 272 ha Chomphet fire, April 2018 2,849 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Chomphet where it started4,076 ha reached on 21 Mar3.0 %
-
2,158 ha reached on 21 Mar1.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Mar | 36.0 °C | 38 % | 40 km/h | 0.4 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 22 Mar | 37.1 °C | 30 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 23 Mar | 38.3 °C | 26 % | 44 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 25 |
| 24 Mar | 37.1 °C | 31 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 25 Mar | 37.3 °C | 32 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 26 Mar | 36.3 °C | 31 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 27 Mar | 35.6 °C | 37 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 28 Mar | 34.9 °C | 46 % | 47 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 22 |
| 29 Mar | 35.4 °C | 42 % | 46 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 30 Mar | 32.8 °C | 56 % | 34 km/h | 1.6 mm | Low 8 |
| 31 Mar | 35.6 °C | 39 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 1 Apr | 36.9 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 23 |
| 2 Apr | 38.2 °C | 27 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 3 Apr | 37.1 °C | 30 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 4 Apr | 37.9 °C | 28 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 5 Apr | 37.6 °C | 27 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 6 Apr | 38.0 °C | 29 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 7 Apr | 36.8 °C | 35 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 8 Apr | 34.9 °C | 49 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 9 Apr | 36.3 °C | 48 % | 44 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 27 |
| 10 Apr | 38.5 °C | 35 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 11 Apr after | 40.0 °C | 30 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 12 Apr after | 39.4 °C | 32 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 13 Apr after | 38.9 °C | 37 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 14 Apr after | 40.5 °C | 33 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 15 Apr after | 39.9 °C | 31 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 16 Apr after | 36.6 °C | 47 % | 44 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 24 |
| 17 Apr after | 37.8 °C | 42 % | 40 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 27 |
| 18 Apr after | 40.8 °C | 30 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 19 Apr after | 41.2 °C | 25 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 20 Apr after | 39.8 °C | 34 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
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 · 306Every 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 21 March 2023 to 10 April 2023 (21 days). The perimeter dates it from 21 March 2023 to 3 April 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,201 hectares (62.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Chomphet (4,076 ha, 3.0 %); Xayabury (2,158 ha, 1.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.5 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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.