Lawksawk fire, 2 March 2017 Lawksawk, Taunggyi
The fire started on 2 March 2017 in Lawksawk, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,537 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 239th largest in Shan since 2016 (of 723 with a page). Number 39 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2017, of 118.
- Burnt area
- 3,537ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 2 Mar 2017 – 7 Mar 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 2 Mar
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 145
- in a single hotspot: 58 MW
- Danger at start
- 30
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.1GW
- 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 56 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 8 Mar.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Lawksawk where it started3,192 ha reached on 2 Mar0.6 %
-
352 ha reached on 2 Mar0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Mar | 29.7 °C | 29 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 3 Mar | 30.3 °C | 23 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 4 Mar | 29.9 °C | 30 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 5 Mar | 28.6 °C | 24 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 6 Mar | 28.6 °C | 25 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 7 Mar | 28.7 °C | 27 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 8 Mar after | 28.4 °C | 38 % | 41 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
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 · 145Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 13,906 haTaunggyiJanuary 2023 · 27 days · 2 km away
- 12,822 haHopong6 March 2025 · 10 days · 6 km away
- 11,481 haTaunggyiFebruary 2020 · 11 days · 9 km away
- 7,126 haTaunggyi17 January 2021 · 12 days · 15 km away
- 36,894 haLawksawk26 February 2024 · 21 days · 20 km away
- 8,195 haTaunggyi26 February 2026 · 9 days · 20 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Lawksawk fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 March 2017 and 7 March 2017: 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 3,537 hectares (35.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Lawksawk (3,192 ha, 0.6 %); Taunggyi (352 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.3 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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.