Matupi fire, March 2022 Matupi, Gangaw
The fire started on 1 March 2022 in Matupi, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,515 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 166th largest in Chin since 2016 (of 244 with a page). Number 44 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2022, of 72.
The power measured by the satellite is low (9.3 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 2,515ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 1 Mar 2022 – 4 Mar 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 1 Mar
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 90
- in a single hotspot: 9 MW
- Energy released
- 238MW
- 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.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,954 ha in 2016, 1,328 ha in 2017, 2,073 ha in 2019, 1,488 ha in 2020, 198 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,527 ha that had burned before.
- 2,073 ha Tilin fire, February 2019 11,583 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,954 ha Gangaw fire, February 2016 4,326 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,283 ha Matupi fire, February 2017 3,544 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 45 ha Tilin fire, February 2017 2,001 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Matupi where it started1,717 ha reached on 24 Feb0.3 %
-
811 ha reached on 28 Feb0.3 %
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.
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 · 90Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 13,183 haMatupiFebruary 2024 · 16 days · 11 km away
- 11,583 haTilinFebruary 2019 · 11 days · 11 km away
- 13,643 haGangawJanuary 2023 · 15 days · 13 km away
- 12,588 haHakha22 February 2021 · 12 days · 22 km away
- 11,026 haHakha21 February 2026 · 11 days · 30 km away
- 12,329 haHakha7 April 2023 · 15 days · 35 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Matupi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 1 March 2022 and 4 March 2022: 4 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 2,515 hectares (25.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Matupi (1,717 ha, 0.3 %); Gangaw (811 ha, 0.3 %).
- 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.