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Loikaw fire, 14 March 2016 Hsihseng, Loikaw

Out · last detection 21 Mar 2016, 06:50 UTC

The fire started on 14 March 2016 in Loikaw, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,927 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 53th largest in Kayah since 2016 (of 159 with a page). Number 25 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2016, of 119.

Burnt area
3,927ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
14 Mar 2016 – 20 Mar 2016
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
14 Mar
2016
Heat detections
180
in a single hotspot: 105 MW
Danger at start
22
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

21 Mar 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Mar20 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

1415161718192021

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

The weather it burned in

35°high
41km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 13 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Hsihseng
    2,994 ha reached on 13 Mar
    1.4 %
  2. Loikaw where it started
    950 ha reached on 10 Mar
    0.6 %

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)
14 Mar 34.4 °C 27 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
15 Mar 34.8 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
16 Mar 34.3 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
17 Mar 34.8 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Mar 34.4 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
19 Mar 34.4 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
20 Mar 34.4 °C 31 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Mar after 34.6 °C 29 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
22 Mar after 33.9 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Mar after 34.6 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
24 Mar after 34.4 °C 30 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
25 Mar after 35.5 °C 28 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
26 Mar after 35.1 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Mar after 34.4 °C 23 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Mar after 34.2 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Mar after 33.5 °C 19 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
30 Mar after 32.1 °C 31 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 28

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Mar 2016
After · 27 Mar 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 · 180Every 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 Myanmar (Burma) ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Loikaw fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 March 2016 and 20 March 2016: 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 3,927 hectares (39.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Hsihseng (2,994 ha, 1.4 %); Loikaw (950 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.8 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 30, 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.

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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.