Hoon fire, 25 February 2023 Hoon
The fire started on 25 February 2023 in Hoon, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,858 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 134th largest in Oudomxay since 2016 (of 241 with a page). Number 114 in Laos in 2023, of 214.
- Burnt area
- 2,858ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 15days
- 25 Feb 2023 – 11 Mar 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 25 Feb
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 140
- in a single hotspot: 150 MW
- Danger at start
- 18
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.3GW
- 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 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.9 mm on 12 Mar.
This area had burned before
99% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,519 ha in 2016, 1,681 ha in 2017, 550 ha in 2018, 747 ha in 2019, 1,106 ha in 2020, 2,144 ha in 2021, 309 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,827 ha that had burned before.
- 2,144 ha Hoon fire, February 2021 3,050 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,454 ha Hoon fire, March 2017 2,665 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 803 ha Hoon fire, March 2016 4,558 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 640 ha Hoon fire, February 2019 2,021 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 309 ha Hoon fire, March 2022 3,087 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 227 ha Hoon fire, March 2017 3,023 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 35 ha Hoon fire, March 2016 2,023 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Hoon where it started2,872 ha reached on 25 Feb1.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Feb | 25.7 °C | 51 % | 36 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 26 Feb | 23.8 °C | 41 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 27 Feb | 25.7 °C | 39 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 28 Feb | 28.8 °C | 35 % | 15 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 1 Mar | 31.1 °C | 31 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 2 Mar | 29.6 °C | 37 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 3 Mar | 27.9 °C | 43 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 4 Mar | 25.9 °C | 49 % | 25 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 5 Mar | 26.1 °C | 49 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 6 Mar | 29.0 °C | 41 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 7 Mar | 30.7 °C | 38 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 8 Mar | 31.5 °C | 37 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 9 Mar | 29.8 °C | 45 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 10 Mar | 30.6 °C | 45 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 11 Mar | 31.9 °C | 36 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 12 Mar after | 30.1 °C | 49 % | 24 km/h | 2.9 mm | Low 5 |
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 · 140Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 13,326 haHoon8 April 2018 · 7 days · 19 km away
- 9,870 haHoon10 March 2023 · 26 days · 24 km away
- 12,233 haPha Oudom28 March 2016 · 22 days · 27 km away
- 14,815 haHoon22 March 2026 · 27 days · 33 km away
- 11,734 haBeng18 March 2023 · 26 days · 38 km away
- 11,424 haPha Oudom21 March 2019 · 13 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Hoon fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 25 February 2023 to 11 March 2023 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 3 March 2023 to 11 March 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,858 hectares (28.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Hoon (2,872 ha, 1.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 31.9 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 23, 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.