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Hinherb fire, 4 April 2016 Hinherb, Feuang, Sangthong

Out · last detection 18 Apr 2016, 06:24 UTC

The fire started on 4 April 2016 in Hinherb, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,990 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 44th largest in Vientiane since 2016 (of 74 with a page). Number 60 in Laos in 2016, of 143.

Burnt area
2,990ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
15days
4 Apr 2016 – 18 Apr 2016
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
4 Apr
2016
Heat detections
132
in a single hotspot: 179 MW
Danger at start
26
High · FWI index
Energy released
3.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Apr 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 4 Apr18 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

4567891011121314161718

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

42°high
43km/h · peak gust
25%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.7 mm on 19 Apr.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Hinherb where it started
    2,428 ha reached on 4 Apr
    2.0 %
  2. Feuang
    512 ha reached on 4 Apr
    0.6 %
  3. Sangthong
    62 ha reached on 7 Apr
    0.1 %

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)
4 Apr 38.8 °C 30 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
5 Apr 39.1 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
6 Apr 40.4 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
7 Apr 39.7 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
8 Apr 38.8 °C 36 % 26 km/h 1.9 mm Moderate 16
9 Apr 39.3 °C 34 % 36 km/h 2.3 mm Moderate 17
10 Apr 40.0 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm High 27
11 Apr 41.9 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
12 Apr 41.6 °C 27 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Apr 41.3 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
14 Apr 41.9 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.3 mm High 36
15 Apr 42.4 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Apr 41.7 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Apr 42.5 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
18 Apr 39.6 °C 37 % 43 km/h 1.5 mm High 28
19 Apr after 36.2 °C 50 % 34 km/h 1.7 mm Moderate 14

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 28 Mar 2016
After · 25 Apr 2016

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 · 132Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Laos ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Hinherb fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 4 April 2016 to 18 April 2016 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 April 2016 to 11 April 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,990 hectares (29.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Hinherb (2,428 ha, 2.0 %); Feuang (512 ha, 0.6 %); Sangthong (62 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 42.5 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, 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.

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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.