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KH · Cambodia · –

Koun Mom fire, 14 January 2024 Koun Mom, Kaoh Nheaek, Sesan

Out · last detection 4 Feb 2024, 06:22 UTC

The fire started on 14 January 2024 in Koun Mom, Cambodia, and satellites saw it burning for 22 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,761 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 13th largest in Ratanakiri since 2016 (of 62 with a page). Number 15 in Cambodia in 2024, of 41.

Burnt area
3,761ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
22days
14 Jan 2024 – 4 Feb 2024
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
14 Jan
2024
Heat detections
158
in a single hotspot: 38 MW
Danger at start
35
High · FWI index
Average daily power
46MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Jan4 Feb
4 Feb 2024

How it evolved, day by day

14 Jan 2024 · 5 MW · 3 15 Jan 2024 · 24 MW · 6 16 Jan 2024 · 54 MW · 3 18 Jan 2024 · 8 MW · 2 19 Jan 2024 · 3 MW · 1 21 Jan 2024 · 65 MW · 11 22 Jan 2024 · 8 MW · 2 23 Jan 2024 · 39 MW · 3 24 Jan 2024 · 110 MW · 23 25 Jan 2024 · 196 MW · 30 26 Jan 2024 · 50 MW · 28 27 Jan 2024 · 102 MW · 22 28 Jan 2024 · 60 MW · 9 29 Jan 2024 · 11 MW · 1 30 Jan 2024 · 46 MW · 9 31 Jan 2024 · 1 MW · 1 3 Feb 2024 · 3 MW · 1 4 Feb 2024 · 38 MW · 3
14 Jan 19 Jan 25 Jan 28 Jan 3 Feb

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
62km/h · peak gust
32%lowest humidity

It had gone 48 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 7 Feb.

This area had burned before

92% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,367 ha in 2016, 1,169 ha in 2017, 1,664 ha in 2020, 1,804 ha in 2021, 510 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,478 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 2.4% of the area of London (38 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. Koun Mom where it started
    1,731 ha reached on 21 Jan
    0.8 %
  2. 1,116 ha reached on 14 Jan
    0.2 %
  3. 935 ha reached on 14 Jan
    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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)
14 Jan 32.6 °C 37 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
15 Jan 33.3 °C 36 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Jan 33.1 °C 36 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Jan 34.3 °C 37 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
18 Jan 34.7 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 Jan 34.6 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 Jan 34.0 °C 37 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
21 Jan 34.5 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
22 Jan 34.2 °C 36 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
23 Jan 34.1 °C 34 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
24 Jan 32.0 °C 40 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
25 Jan 32.9 °C 37 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
26 Jan 33.4 °C 35 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 Jan 33.2 °C 34 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
28 Jan 32.5 °C 35 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Jan 33.9 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
30 Jan 34.7 °C 33 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Jan 35.2 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
1 Feb 34.9 °C 39 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
2 Feb 34.6 °C 48 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
3 Feb 35.8 °C 38 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
4 Feb 34.1 °C 47 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
5 Feb after 35.4 °C 44 % 20 km/h 0.3 mm High 26
6 Feb after 35.1 °C 47 % 19 km/h 0.7 mm High 22
7 Feb after 33.5 °C 56 % 24 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 12

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 34.6, a minimum humidity of 37% and 48 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 30.

FWI at the start 34.6
Minimum humidity 37 %
Days without rain 48
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Lumphat fire, January 2020
2,061 ha 24 days FWI 32.7 Min. humidity 35 % 54 km away, in 2020

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

What happened to them

18 days
median duration
2,423 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
2.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 10 of 30 had it)

It was 1.6 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 22 days, against 18 days.

Only 9 of its 30 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 20 of 30, 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

1.4 mmfirst rain
7 Feb3 days after it ended
62km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 4 Feb, and on 7 Feb 1.4 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 10 of 30, 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 · 7 Jan 2024
After · 11 Feb 2024

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 19 January 2024 the air beside the fire reached 41 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 16: 1.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak41 µg/m³
Days over the guideline1 day
PM1058 µg/m³
Optical depth0.62
19 Jan22 Jan25 Jan28 Jan31 Jan
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 158Every 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 Koun Mom fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 14 January 2024 to 4 February 2024 (22 days). The perimeter dates it from 21 January 2024 to 28 January 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,761 hectares (37.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Koun Mom (1,731 ha, 0.8 %); Kaoh Nheaek (1,116 ha, 0.2 %); Sesan (935 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.8 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 62 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.
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: 30. Their median duration was 18 days and their median area 2,423 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 9 of its 30 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 20 of 30, 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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 28 January 2024 → 4 February 2024.
  2. Start date: 21 January 2024 → 14 January 2024.

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.

Report an error
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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 21 January 2024 to 28 January 2024. 158 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 2025, 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.