Mese fire, January 2020 Mese
The fire started on 22 January 2020 in Mese, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,069 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 29th largest in Kayah since 2016 (of 159 with a page). Number 16 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2020, of 166.
The power measured by the satellite is low (12.0 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
- 7,069ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 15days
- 22 Jan 2020 – 5 Feb 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 22 Jan
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 315
- in a single hotspot: 12 MW
- Danger at start
- 18
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 591MW
- 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 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
82% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,518 ha in 2016, 2,637 ha in 2017, 3,544 ha in 2018, 4,236 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,812 ha that had burned before.
- 3,320 ha Mese fire, March 2016 14,694 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,220 ha Mese fire, March 2018 7,180 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,033 ha Mese fire, March 2019 2,454 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,004 ha Mese fire, February 2017 4,593 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 963 ha Khun Yuam fire, March 2019 1,435 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 116 ha Bawlake fire, March 2019 4,965 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 82 ha Khun Yuam fire, March 2016 1,405 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Mese where it started7,109 ha reached on 18 Jan3.9 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Jan | 33.1 °C | 39 % | 14 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 23 Jan | 32.9 °C | 31 % | 15 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 24 Jan | 31.5 °C | 30 % | 15 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 25 Jan | 30.8 °C | 26 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 26 Jan | 29.2 °C | 33 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 27 Jan | 29.0 °C | 32 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 28 Jan | 28.9 °C | 37 % | 15 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 29 Jan | 30.1 °C | 33 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 30 Jan | 30.7 °C | 38 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 31 Jan | 31.3 °C | 38 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 1 Feb | 31.7 °C | 40 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 2 Feb | 33.0 °C | 32 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 3 Feb | 32.2 °C | 33 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 4 Feb | 31.7 °C | 35 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 5 Feb | 32.2 °C | 28 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 6 Feb after | 32.2 °C | 29 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 7 Feb after | 32.9 °C | 38 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 8 Feb after | 33.3 °C | 34 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 9 Feb after | 31.0 °C | 46 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 10 Feb after | 31.7 °C | 42 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 11 Feb after | 33.7 °C | 32 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 12 Feb after | 33.7 °C | 25 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 13 Feb after | 33.5 °C | 23 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 14 Feb after | 32.7 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 15 Feb after | 32.4 °C | 36 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
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 · 315Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 91,510 haKhun Yuam15 March 2026 · 36 days · 14 km away
- 36,428 haMese24 February 2024 · 24 days · 15 km away
- 49,213 haMae Sariang19 March 2026 · 26 days · 22 km away
- 48,494 haMae Sariang2 March 2025 · 34 days · 23 km away
- 32,496 haHpasawng13 March 2026 · 32 days · 30 km away
- 107,025 haMae Sariang28 February 2019 · 46 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mese fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 January 2020 and 5 February 2020: 15 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 7,069 hectares (70.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mese (7,109 ha, 3.9 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.1 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 27 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 27, 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.