Mongpan fire, 5 March 2021 Langkho, Mongpan
The fire started on 5 March 2021 in Mongpan, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,844 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 74th largest in Shan since 2016 (of 723 with a page). Number 16 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2021, of 159.
The power measured by the satellite is low (19.0 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
- 6,844ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 18days
- 5 Mar 2021 – 22 Mar 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 5 Mar
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 249
- in a single hotspot: 19 MW
- Danger at start
- 27
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 754MW
- 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 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
91% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,797 ha in 2016, 3,665 ha in 2017, 36 ha in 2018, 5,132 ha in 2019, 2,987 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,207 ha that had burned before.
- 5,092 ha Mongpan fire, March 2019 7,656 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,744 ha Mongpan fire, March 2017 3,277 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,797 ha Langkho fire, March 2016 2,485 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,665 ha Mongpan fire, February 2020 4,126 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 92 ha Mongpan fire, February 2017 3,133 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 13 ha Langkho fire, March 2020 3,738 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
3,749 ha reached on 5 Mar0.7 %
-
Mongpan where it started3,124 ha reached on 5 Mar1.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Mar | 33.5 °C | 15 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 6 Mar | 33.3 °C | 17 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 7 Mar | 33.5 °C | 20 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 8 Mar | 33.6 °C | 22 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 9 Mar | 34.3 °C | 22 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 10 Mar | 34.0 °C | 26 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 11 Mar | 34.6 °C | 26 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 12 Mar | 34.3 °C | 27 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 13 Mar | 35.5 °C | 19 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 14 Mar | 35.4 °C | 26 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 15 Mar | 36.1 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 16 Mar | 36.5 °C | 20 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 17 Mar | 37.0 °C | 23 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 18 Mar | 37.7 °C | 20 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 19 Mar | 37.7 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 20 Mar | 37.9 °C | 23 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 21 Mar | 39.0 °C | 20 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 22 Mar | 37.0 °C | 23 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 23 Mar after | 34.9 °C | 38 % | 34 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 28 |
| 24 Mar after | 36.1 °C | 29 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 25 Mar after | 38.2 °C | 25 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 26 Mar after | 37.1 °C | 27 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 27 Mar after | 37.9 °C | 23 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 28 Mar after | 36.2 °C | 29 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 29 Mar after | 35.0 °C | 26 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 30 Mar after | 37.5 °C | 19 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 31 Mar after | 37.6 °C | 22 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 1 Apr after | 37.9 °C | 22 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
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 · 249Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 13,153 haLangkho20 March 2026 · 15 days · 10 km away
- 21,661 haMongton21 March 2026 · 17 days · 17 km away
- 21,035 haMongton16 February 2024 · 30 days · 18 km away
- 20,728 haMongpan8 March 2019 · 18 days · 20 km away
- 20,047 haMongton22 March 2026 · 23 days · 37 km away
- 20,395 haPang Mapha19 March 2026 · 25 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mongpan fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 5 March 2021 and 22 March 2021: 18 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 6,844 hectares (68.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Langkho (3,749 ha, 0.7 %); Mongpan (3,124 ha, 1.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.0 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, 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.