Mongkol Borei fire, January 2018 Mongkol Borei, Malai, Ou Chrov
The fire started on 11 January 2018 in Mongkol Borei, Cambodia, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,824 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 8th largest in Banteay Meanchey since 2016 (of 13 with a page). Number 10 in Cambodia in 2018, of 19.
The power measured by the satellite is low (25.2 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
- 2,824ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 11 Jan 2018 – 21 Jan 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- districts
- Started on
- 11 Jan
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 67
- in a single hotspot: 25 MW
- Danger at start
- 7
- Low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 501MW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.2 mm on 25 Jan.
This area had burned before
45% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 388 ha in 2016, 977 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,284 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Mongkol Borei where it started1,326 ha reached on 11 Jan1.6 %
-
1,295 ha reached on 13 Jan2.6 %
-
219 ha reached on 17 Jan0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Jan | 29.2 °C | 45 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 7 |
| 12 Jan | 28.9 °C | 41 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 11 |
| 13 Jan | 29.9 °C | 39 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 14 Jan | 31.4 °C | 36 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 15 Jan | 31.3 °C | 43 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 16 Jan | 34.0 °C | 39 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 17 Jan | 34.8 °C | 39 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 18 Jan | 35.4 °C | 31 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 19 Jan | 35.8 °C | 35 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 20 Jan | 34.8 °C | 40 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 21 Jan | 36.1 °C | 40 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 22 Jan after | 35.1 °C | 41 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 23 Jan after | 35.0 °C | 39 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 24 Jan after | 35.6 °C | 37 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 25 Jan after | 34.7 °C | 48 % | 21 km/h | 4.2 mm | Very low 3 |
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 · 67Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 12,657 haOu ChrovDecember 2025 · 20 days · 4 km away
- 3,472 haMongkol Borei22 January 2016 · 9 days · 5 km away
- 3,093 haOu ChrovDecember 2019 · 10 days · 7 km away
- 5,549 haOu ChrovJanuary 2025 · 10 days · 9 km away
- 3,773 haBavelDecember 2025 · 11 days · 17 km away
- 3,457 haBavelDecember 2018 · 6 days · 20 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mongkol Borei fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 January 2018 and 21 January 2018: 11 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 2,824 hectares (28.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Mongkol Borei (1,326 ha, 1.6 %); Malai (1,295 ha, 2.6 %); Ou Chrov (219 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.1 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 19, class Moderate.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Cambodia (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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (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.