Mengla County fire, March 2017 China
The fire started on 20 March 2017 in Mengla County, China, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,113 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 290th largest in Yunnan Province since 2016 (of 380 with a page). Number 228 in China in 2017, of 272.
We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.
- Burnt area
- 1,113ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 20 Mar 2017 – 24 Mar 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 0
- counties
- Started on
- 20 Mar
- 2017
- Danger at start
- 30
- High · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.0 mm on 26 Mar.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Mar | 28.1 °C | 23 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 21 Mar | 27.0 °C | 21 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 22 Mar | 28.7 °C | 13 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 23 Mar | 29.4 °C | 15 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 24 Mar | 29.6 °C | 21 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 25 Mar after | 29.3 °C | 22 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 26 Mar after | 22.0 °C | 55 % | 45 km/h | 2.0 mm | Low 7 |
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.
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mengla County fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 March 2017 and 24 March 2017: 5 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 1,113 hectares (11.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.6 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of China (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.
Emergency number: 119
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 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.