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KH · Cambodia · –

Kampong Svay fire, 6 April 2016 Kampong Svay, Kampong Leaeng

Out · last detection 28 Apr 2016, 06:35 UTC

The fire started on 6 April 2016 in Kampong Svay, Cambodia, and satellites saw it burning for 23 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,249 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 5th largest in Kampong Thom since 2016 (of 28 with a page). Number 16 in Cambodia in 2016, of 113.

Burnt area
5,249ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
23days
6 Apr 2016 – 28 Apr 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
6 Apr
2016
Heat detections
448
in a single hotspot: 210 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Average daily power
310MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Apr28 Apr
28 Apr 2016

How it evolved, day by day

6 Apr 2016 · 69 MW · 7 7 Apr 2016 · 29 MW · 3 8 Apr 2016 · 103 MW · 4 9 Apr 2016 · 7 MW · 4 10 Apr 2016 · 11 MW · 2 11 Apr 2016 · 47 MW · 13 12 Apr 2016 · 42 MW · 4 13 Apr 2016 · 85 MW · 12 14 Apr 2016 · 259 MW · 16 15 Apr 2016 · 395 MW · 40 16 Apr 2016 · 991 MW · 39 17 Apr 2016 · 151 MW · 14 18 Apr 2016 · 725 MW · 41 19 Apr 2016 · 1,379 MW · 51 20 Apr 2016 · 140 MW · 8 21 Apr 2016 · 437 MW · 28 22 Apr 2016 · 160 MW · 10 23 Apr 2016 · 530 MW · 36 24 Apr 2016 · 461 MW · 30 25 Apr 2016 · 500 MW · 34 26 Apr 2016 · 64 MW · 8 27 Apr 2016 · 199 MW · 19 28 Apr 2016 · 353 MW · 25
6 Apr 11 Apr 19 Apr 26 Apr

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

The weather it burned in

41°high
36km/h · peak gust
33%lowest humidity

It had gone 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.7 mm on 29 Apr.

This area had burned before

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

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 3.3% of the area of London (52 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Kampong Svay where it started
    4,979 ha reached on 6 Apr
    3.6 %
  2. 265 ha reached on 6 Apr
    0.3 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2015
Built-up area0.55 ha
Residents≈ 1,200

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.55 hectares of built-up land and about 1,200 residents (GHSL 2015, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
6 Apr 38.4 °C 38 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
7 Apr 37.8 °C 45 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
8 Apr 38.2 °C 44 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
9 Apr 38.0 °C 46 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
10 Apr 37.9 °C 46 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Apr 38.7 °C 43 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
12 Apr 39.9 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Apr 39.5 °C 33 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Apr 39.5 °C 35 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
15 Apr 40.3 °C 34 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Apr 40.0 °C 35 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Apr 40.0 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Apr 40.3 °C 39 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
19 Apr 37.7 °C 45 % 36 km/h 0.4 mm High 35
20 Apr 38.9 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
21 Apr 38.6 °C 36 % 22 km/h 0.7 mm High 28
22 Apr 37.5 °C 42 % 25 km/h 0.2 mm High 30
23 Apr 39.1 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Apr 39.3 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Apr 39.2 °C 39 % 23 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
26 Apr 40.6 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
27 Apr 40.4 °C 33 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
28 Apr 40.5 °C 37 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Apr after 36.3 °C 52 % 29 km/h 3.7 mm Low 9

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 32.7, a minimum humidity of 38% and 10 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 19.

FWI at the start 32.7
Minimum humidity 38 %
Days without rain 10
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Chhaeb fire, February 2024
4,805 ha 33 days FWI 30.3 Min. humidity 39 % 154 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.6 mm on 26 Mar.

What happened to them

24 days
median duration
3,433 ha
median area
11 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 15 of 19 had it)

It was 1.5 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 23 days, against 24 days.

Only 5 of its 19 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 4 of 19, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.2 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

3.7 mmfirst rain
29 Aprthe day after it ended
36km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 28 Apr, and on 29 Apr 3.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 15 of 19, with a median of 2.2 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 30 Mar 2016
After · 5 May 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 · 448Every 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 Cambodia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kampong Svay fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 April 2016 to 28 April 2016 (23 days). The perimeter dates it from 13 April 2016 to 28 April 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,249 hectares (52.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kampong Svay (4,979 ha, 3.6 %); Kampong Leaeng (265 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 40.6 °C, humidity dropped to 33 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 19. Their median duration was 24 days and their median area 3,433 ha; 11 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 5 of its 19 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 4 of 19, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.2 mm.

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

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Start date: 13 April 2016 → 6 April 2016.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 13 April 2016 to 28 April 2016. 448 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2015, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.