Kaev Seima fire, December 2018 Kaev Seima, Pech Chreada
The fire started on 12 December 2018 in Kaev Seima, Cambodia, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,072 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 48th largest in Mondulkiri since 2016 (of 111 with a page). Number 8 in Cambodia in 2018, of 19.
- Burnt area
- 3,072ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 12 Dec 2018 – 17 Dec 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 12 Dec
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 111
- in a single hotspot: 45 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 487MW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.8 mm on 24 Dec.
This area had burned before
42% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 268 ha in 2016, 1,142 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,281 ha that had burned before.
- 723 ha Pech Chreada fire, February 2017 3,034 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 419 ha Kaev Seima fire, January 2017 2,559 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 268 ha Kaev Seima fire, January 2016 24,939 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Kaev Seima where it started3,078 ha reached on 6 Dec1.1 %
-
15 ha reached on 16 Dec0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Dec | 36.4 °C | 33 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 13 Dec | 33.6 °C | 38 % | 62 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 14 Dec | 34.1 °C | 38 % | 63 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 15 Dec | 35.9 °C | 41 % | 58 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 27 |
| 16 Dec | 36.8 °C | 36 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 17 Dec | 34.3 °C | 40 % | 60 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 18 Dec after | 36.0 °C | 33 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 19 Dec after | 37.1 °C | 31 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 20 Dec after | 35.6 °C | 39 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 21 Dec after | 35.8 °C | 38 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 22 Dec after | 36.6 °C | 32 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 23 Dec after | 35.1 °C | 36 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 24 Dec after | 35.4 °C | 38 % | 41 km/h | 1.8 mm | Moderate 16 |
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 · 111Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 6,724 haKaev Seima20 January 2026 · 10 days · 4 km away
- 24,939 haKaev Seima18 January 2016 · 25 days · 9 km away
- 6,507 haKaev Seima17 January 2026 · 13 days · 22 km away
- 15,165 haKaev Seima17 January 2026 · 19 days · 30 km away
- 36,542 haKaev Seima21 January 2016 · 73 days · 34 km away
- 11,261 haChetr Borei29 December 2021 · 11 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kaev Seima fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 December 2018 and 17 December 2018: 6 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 3,072 hectares (30.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kaev Seima (3,078 ha, 1.1 %); Pech Chreada (15 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 33 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, class 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
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 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.