Hakha fire, 23 February 2017 Hakha
The fire started on 23 February 2017 in Hakha, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,179 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 113th largest in Chin since 2016 (of 244 with a page). Number 51 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2017, of 118.
The power measured by the satellite is low (11.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 3,179ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 23 Feb 2017 – 1 Mar 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 23 Feb
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 158
- in a single hotspot: 12 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 434MW
- 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 40 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 10 Mar.
This area had burned before
19% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 601 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Hakha where it started3,190 ha reached on 23 Feb0.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Feb | 34.5 °C | 33 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 24 Feb | 32.6 °C | 26 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 25 Feb | 31.8 °C | 32 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 26 Feb | 30.5 °C | 22 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 27 Feb | 31.7 °C | 29 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 28 Feb | 30.7 °C | 38 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 1 Mar | 31.4 °C | 39 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 2 Mar after | 32.6 °C | 35 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 3 Mar after | 34.6 °C | 27 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 4 Mar after | 34.1 °C | 25 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 5 Mar after | 32.5 °C | 20 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 6 Mar after | 32.0 °C | 26 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 7 Mar after | 32.2 °C | 30 % | 27 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 23 |
| 8 Mar after | 29.6 °C | 44 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 9 Mar after | 30.2 °C | 46 % | 28 km/h | 0.8 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 10 Mar after | 27.6 °C | 53 % | 25 km/h | 1.1 mm | Low 9 |
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 · 158Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 11,026 haHakha21 February 2026 · 11 days · 3 km away
- 12,588 haHakha22 February 2021 · 12 days · 7 km away
- 12,329 haHakha7 April 2023 · 15 days · 16 km away
- 13,643 haGangawJanuary 2023 · 15 days · 17 km away
- 9,334 haHakha5 February 2026 · 20 days · 18 km away
- 8,000 haHakha9 April 2023 · 10 days · 34 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Hakha fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 February 2017 and 1 March 2017: 7 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,179 hectares (31.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Hakha (3,190 ha, 0.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.5 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Myanmar (Burma) (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 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.