Lashio fire, 19 March 2018 Lashio, Hsipaw, Mongyai
The fire started on 19 March 2018 in Lashio, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 22,027 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 14th largest in Shan since 2016 (of 723 with a page). The largest in Myanmar (Burma) in 2018, of 42.
- Burnt area
- 22,027ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 19 Mar 2018 – 25 Mar 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 19 Mar
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 869
- in a single hotspot: 108 MW
- Danger at start
- 26
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 13.2GW
- 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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 3 Apr.
This area had burned before
41% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 4,626 ha in 2016, 6,273 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 8,979 ha that had burned before.
- 2,534 ha Lashio fire, March 2017 4,352 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,193 ha Lashio fire, March 2016 2,348 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 34 ha Lashio fire, March 2017 2,836 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Lashio where it started15,021 ha reached on 19 Mar3.9 %
-
7,051 ha reached on 19 Mar1.3 %
-
43 ha reached on 21 Mar0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Mar | 31.7 °C | 28 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 20 Mar | 32.3 °C | 21 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 21 Mar | 33.1 °C | 25 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 22 Mar | 33.2 °C | 31 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 23 Mar | 32.9 °C | 30 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 24 Mar | 33.3 °C | 30 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 25 Mar | 32.6 °C | 33 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 26 Mar after | 32.5 °C | 33 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 27 Mar after | 31.0 °C | 36 % | 44 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 33 |
| 28 Mar after | 32.8 °C | 25 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Mar after | 33.4 °C | 28 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 30 Mar after | 33.0 °C | 27 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 31 Mar after | 34.7 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 1 Apr after | 35.5 °C | 21 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 2 Apr after | 34.8 °C | 24 % | 41 km/h | 0.3 mm | Very high 42 |
| 3 Apr after | 33.9 °C | 32 % | 46 km/h | 1.3 mm | High 26 |
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 · 869Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Lashio fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 March 2018 and 25 March 2018: 7 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 22,027 hectares (220.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Lashio (15,021 ha, 3.9 %); Hsipaw (7,051 ha, 1.3 %); Mongyai (43 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.3 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Myanmar (Burma) (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 ADM3 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (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.