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Mongkhet fire, 4 April 2023 Mongkhet, Matman

Out · last detection 18 Apr 2023, 18:30 UTC

The fire started on 4 April 2023 in Mongkhet, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,274 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 180th largest in Shan since 2016 (of 723 with a page). Number 56 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2023, of 212.

The power measured by the satellite is low (24.5 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
4,274ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
15days
4 Apr 2023 – 18 Apr 2023
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
4 Apr
2023
Heat detections
198
in a single hotspot: 25 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Energy released
871MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Apr 2023
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 4 Apr18 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

456789101112131415161718

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
46km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

32% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,386 ha in 2019.

What happened to each town

  1. Mongkhet where it started
    3,533 ha reached on 4 Apr
    1.4 %
  2. Matman
    764 ha reached on 4 Apr
    0.3 %

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.

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)
4 Apr 29.4 °C 28 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
5 Apr 31.5 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
6 Apr 32.2 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
7 Apr 32.8 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
8 Apr 34.1 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
9 Apr 34.3 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
10 Apr 34.5 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
11 Apr 33.7 °C 27 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Apr 33.7 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
13 Apr 34.1 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
14 Apr 34.7 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
15 Apr 35.3 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
16 Apr 35.6 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
17 Apr 35.1 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Apr 34.8 °C 29 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
19 Apr after 34.8 °C 31 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
20 Apr after 34.9 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 Apr after 34.2 °C 28 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Apr after 33.5 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.4 mm High 36
23 Apr after 34.6 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
24 Apr after 31.3 °C 33 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 Apr after 34.2 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
26 Apr after 33.1 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
27 Apr after 33.6 °C 30 % 43 km/h 0.1 mm High 35
28 Apr after 34.4 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 28 Mar 2023
After · 25 Apr 2023

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 · 198Every 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 Mongkhet fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 4 April 2023 and 18 April 2023: 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 4,274 hectares (42.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mongkhet (3,533 ha, 1.4 %); Matman (764 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.6 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, 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.