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Kaoh Nheaek fire, February 2018 Sambour, Kaoh Nheaek, Sesan

Out · last detection 16 Apr 2018, 05:31 UTC

The fire started on 27 February 2018 in Kaoh Nheaek, Cambodia, and satellites saw it burning for 49 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,343 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

It is the 6th largest in Mondulkiri since 2016 (of 112 with a page). The largest in Cambodia in 2018, of 28.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Sambour · 2016Sambour · 2017Sesan · 2017Sesan · 2016

Burnt area
11,343ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
49days
27 Feb 2018 – 16 Apr 2018
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
27 Feb
2018
Heat detections
963
in a single hotspot: 92 MW
Danger at start
44
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
133MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Feb16 Apr
16 Apr 2018

How it evolved, day by day

27 Feb 2018 · 116 MW · 34 28 Feb 2018 · 71 MW · 11 1 Mar 2018 · 12 MW · 6 2 Mar 2018 · 266 MW · 36 3 Mar 2018 · 53 MW · 11 4 Mar 2018 · 26 MW · 5 5 Mar 2018 · 22 MW · 4 6 Mar 2018 · 40 MW · 11 7 Mar 2018 · 545 MW · 57 8 Mar 2018 · 237 MW · 58 9 Mar 2018 · 798 MW · 97 10 Mar 2018 · 246 MW · 60 11 Mar 2018 · 901 MW · 117 12 Mar 2018 · 141 MW · 16 13 Mar 2018 · 68 MW · 21 14 Mar 2018 · 75 MW · 8 16 Mar 2018 · 3 MW · 1 17 Mar 2018 · 20 MW · 4 18 Mar 2018 · 46 MW · 15 19 Mar 2018 · 19 MW · 10 20 Mar 2018 · 19 MW · 1 21 Mar 2018 · 14 MW · 3 22 Mar 2018 · 62 MW · 14 23 Mar 2018 · 681 MW · 82 24 Mar 2018 · 218 MW · 35 25 Mar 2018 · 53 MW · 13 26 Mar 2018 · 50 MW · 14 27 Mar 2018 · 108 MW · 22 28 Mar 2018 · 60 MW · 7 30 Mar 2018 · 11 MW · 2 31 Mar 2018 · 76 MW · 18 1 Apr 2018 · 11 MW · 10 2 Apr 2018 · 80 MW · 20 3 Apr 2018 · 17 MW · 7 4 Apr 2018 · 4 MW · 4 5 Apr 2018 · 19 MW · 8 6 Apr 2018 · 0 MW · 1 7 Apr 2018 · 210 MW · 23 8 Apr 2018 · 140 MW · 21 9 Apr 2018 · 360 MW · 45 10 Apr 2018 · 53 MW · 12 12 Apr 2018 · 13 MW · 4 13 Apr 2018 · 67 MW · 5 14 Apr 2018 · 31 MW · 3 15 Apr 2018 · 33 MW · 3 16 Apr 2018 · 32 MW · 4
27 Feb 6 Mar 11 Mar 13 Mar 21 Mar 28 Mar 5 Apr 13 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
52km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 48 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.1 mm on 19 Apr.

This area had burned before

74% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 15,169 ha in 2016, 4,610 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 8,379 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 7.2% of the area of London (113 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. Sambour
    6,064 ha reached on 27 Feb
    1.1 %
  2. Kaoh Nheaek where it started
    5,333 ha reached on 27 Feb
    1.0 %
  3. Sesan
    27 ha
    0.0 %

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 2020
Built-up area0.75 ha
Residents≈ 150

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.75 hectares of built-up land and about 150 residents (GHSL 2020, 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)
27 Feb 36.7 °C 25 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
28 Feb 36.5 °C 33 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
1 Mar 35.1 °C 44 % 28 km/h 0.5 mm High 28
2 Mar 33.4 °C 48 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
3 Mar 35.8 °C 42 % 33 km/h 2.0 mm Moderate 17
4 Mar 35.6 °C 44 % 27 km/h 0.5 mm High 22
5 Mar 36.5 °C 42 % 24 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 20
6 Mar 35.1 °C 42 % 20 km/h 0.3 mm High 22
7 Mar 38.0 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
8 Mar 38.7 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
9 Mar 34.5 °C 37 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
10 Mar 34.5 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
11 Mar 35.1 °C 29 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
12 Mar 36.2 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
13 Mar 36.8 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
14 Mar 33.6 °C 45 % 30 km/h 0.3 mm High 28
15 Mar 32.2 °C 55 % 34 km/h 4.4 mm Low 6
16 Mar 34.0 °C 48 % 27 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 12
17 Mar 35.2 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 20
18 Mar 35.4 °C 45 % 27 km/h 0.4 mm High 22
19 Mar 35.0 °C 45 % 28 km/h 0.5 mm High 22
20 Mar 35.6 °C 42 % 22 km/h 1.6 mm Moderate 15
21 Mar 27.4 °C 74 % 23 km/h 13.8 mm Very low 0
22 Mar 33.8 °C 45 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
23 Mar 34.1 °C 35 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
24 Mar 34.9 °C 33 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
25 Mar 36.5 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
26 Mar 35.2 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
27 Mar 34.3 °C 38 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
28 Mar 34.8 °C 34 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
29 Mar 28.4 °C 70 % 20 km/h 11.8 mm Very low 0
30 Mar 33.1 °C 56 % 21 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 3
31 Mar 34.3 °C 40 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
1 Apr 35.1 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
2 Apr 36.3 °C 33 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
3 Apr 35.4 °C 36 % 25 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 16
4 Apr 33.0 °C 54 % 24 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 12
5 Apr 34.3 °C 45 % 22 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 16
6 Apr 36.0 °C 48 % 24 km/h 2.6 mm Low 6
7 Apr 34.0 °C 34 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
8 Apr 33.3 °C 34 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
9 Apr 36.9 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
10 Apr 38.1 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Apr 38.8 °C 36 % 23 km/h 0.1 mm High 25
12 Apr 37.6 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm High 28
13 Apr 39.3 °C 30 % 28 km/h 0.4 mm High 29
14 Apr 40.6 °C 26 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
15 Apr 37.7 °C 42 % 28 km/h 0.9 mm High 22
16 Apr 39.7 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Apr after 38.1 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Apr after 36.9 °C 33 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
19 Apr after 37.1 °C 39 % 30 km/h 2.1 mm Moderate 16

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 20 Feb 2018
After · 23 Apr 2018

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 · 963Every 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 Kaoh Nheaek fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 27 February 2018 to 16 April 2018 (49 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 March 2018 to 12 April 2018.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 11,343 hectares (113.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Sambour (6,064 ha, 1.1 %); Kaoh Nheaek (5,333 ha, 1.0 %); Sesan (27 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 40.6 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, 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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 12 April 2018 → 16 April 2018.
  2. Start date: 6 March 2018 → 27 February 2018.

RSS Changes to this page

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; 3 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 6 March 2018 to 12 April 2018. 963 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 2020, 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.