How long did the Kaev Seima fire last?

GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 January 2016 and 11 February 2016: 25 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 24,939 hectares (249.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Pech Chreada (18,241 ha, 4.8 %); Kaev Seima (6,860 ha, 2.4 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 38.0 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 72 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very high.

Where does this data come from?

From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Cambodia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

KH · Cambodia · 2016-01-18 → 2016-02-11

Kaev Seima fire, 18 January 2016 Pech Chreada, Kaev Seima

Out · last detection 11 Feb 2016, 18:13 UTC

The fire started on 18 January 2016 in Kaev Seima, Cambodia, and satellites saw it burning for 25 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 24,939 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 3th largest in Mondulkiri since 2016 (of 111 with a page). Number 3 in Cambodia in 2016, of 116.

Burnt area: 24,939ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 25days; 18 Jan 2016 – 11 Feb 2016
Municipalities hit: 2; districts
Started on: 18 Jan; 2016
Heat detections: 1,974; in a single hotspot: 148 MW
Danger at start: 17; Moderate · FWI index
Energy released: 8.8GW; sum of detected power

Play back 11 Feb 2016

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Jan11 Feb

How it evolved, day by day

18192021222324252627282930311234567891011

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

The weather it burned in

38°high

72km/h · peak gust

27%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

Pech Chreada

18,241 ha reached on 13 Jan

4.8 %
Kaev Seima where it started

6,860 ha reached on 11 Jan

2.4 %

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)
18 Jan	34.6 °C	45 %	19 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
19 Jan	35.6 °C	42 %	21 km/h	1.5 mm	Moderate 12
20 Jan	36.9 °C	35 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
21 Jan	36.9 °C	34 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
22 Jan	35.7 °C	36 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
23 Jan	38.0 °C	29 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
24 Jan	32.5 °C	40 %	68 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
25 Jan	29.2 °C	38 %	72 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
26 Jan	31.8 °C	38 %	60 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
27 Jan	33.1 °C	40 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
28 Jan	35.7 °C	41 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
29 Jan	36.1 °C	39 %	19 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
30 Jan	37.1 °C	32 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
31 Jan	37.2 °C	29 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
1 Feb	37.4 °C	27 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
2 Feb	34.8 °C	36 %	57 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
3 Feb	34.5 °C	37 %	60 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
4 Feb	35.0 °C	37 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
5 Feb	33.4 °C	41 %	55 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
6 Feb	32.1 °C	35 %	66 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
7 Feb	28.7 °C	32 %	59 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
8 Feb	30.6 °C	35 %	56 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
9 Feb	33.6 °C	32 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
10 Feb	35.3 °C	28 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
11 Feb	35.4 °C	28 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
12 Feb after	35.6 °C	28 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
13 Feb after	35.0 °C	36 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
14 Feb after	36.1 °C	36 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
15 Feb after	37.0 °C	28 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
16 Feb after	34.9 °C	34 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
17 Feb after	34.5 °C	32 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
18 Feb after	34.5 °C	29 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
19 Feb after	35.8 °C	25 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
20 Feb after	34.5 °C	32 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
21 Feb after	34.8 °C	32 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 11 Jan 2016

After · 18 Feb 2016

Before After

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 · 1,974Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Cambodia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kaev Seima fire last?: GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 January 2016 and 11 February 2016: 25 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 24,939 hectares (249.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Pech Chreada (18,241 ha, 4.8 %); Kaev Seima (6,860 ha, 2.4 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 38.0 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 72 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?: From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Cambodia (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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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 4.0 International (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.

Where it burned