Hsipaw fire, 17 January 2023 Hsipaw
The fire started on 17 January 2023 in Hsipaw, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,041 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 50th largest in Shan since 2016 (of 723 with a page). Number 13 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2023, of 212.
- Burnt area
- 9,041ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 17 Jan 2023 – 27 Jan 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 17 Jan
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 388
- in a single hotspot: 31 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.2GW
- 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 45 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
70% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,166 ha in 2016, 1,632 ha in 2017, 992 ha in 2018, 5,335 ha in 2020, 3,263 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,328 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Hsipaw where it started9,080 ha reached on 11 Jan1.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Jan | 25.9 °C | 35 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 18 Jan | 26.3 °C | 34 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 19 Jan | 26.1 °C | 35 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 20 Jan | 27.1 °C | 33 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 21 Jan | 27.9 °C | 31 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 22 Jan | 27.8 °C | 29 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 23 Jan | 27.3 °C | 30 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 24 Jan | 29.8 °C | 28 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 25 Jan | 28.2 °C | 34 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 26 Jan | 28.2 °C | 33 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 27 Jan | 29.6 °C | 31 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 28 Jan after | 29.7 °C | 31 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 29 Jan after | 28.9 °C | 42 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 30 Jan after | 28.1 °C | 40 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 31 Jan after | 29.4 °C | 35 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 1 Feb after | 29.6 °C | 34 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 2 Feb after | 28.0 °C | 43 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 3 Feb after | 29.8 °C | 41 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 4 Feb after | 30.7 °C | 37 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 5 Feb after | 30.6 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 6 Feb after | 29.5 °C | 23 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
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 · 388Every 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 Hsipaw fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 January 2023 and 27 January 2023: 11 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 9,041 hectares (90.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Hsipaw (9,080 ha, 1.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.8 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, 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.