Mongping fire, 23 March 2023 Mongping
The fire started on 23 March 2023 in Mongping, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,057 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 129th largest in Shan since 2016 (of 723 with a page). Number 38 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2023, of 212.
- Burnt area
- 5,057ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 23 Mar 2023 – 28 Mar 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 23 Mar
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 210
- in a single hotspot: 163 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.5GW
- 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 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
79% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 765 ha in 2016, 2,080 ha in 2017, 485 ha in 2019, 3,135 ha in 2020, 1,601 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,001 ha that had burned before.
- 3,135 ha Mongping fire, March 2020 5,726 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,176 ha Mongping fire, March 2021 2,870 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,164 ha Mongping fire, April 2017 3,086 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 165 ha Mongping fire, April 2016 2,407 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Mongping where it started5,092 ha reached on 23 Mar0.8 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Mar | 28.3 °C | 33 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 24 Mar | 28.3 °C | 30 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 25 Mar | 29.1 °C | 26 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 26 Mar | 29.7 °C | 25 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 27 Mar | 30.4 °C | 27 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Mar | 29.9 °C | 31 % | 41 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 27 |
| 29 Mar after | 28.0 °C | 39 % | 42 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 23 |
| 30 Mar after | 29.5 °C | 30 % | 41 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 24 |
| 31 Mar after | 29.6 °C | 30 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 1 Apr after | 30.9 °C | 28 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 2 Apr after | 29.5 °C | 26 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 3 Apr after | 28.0 °C | 34 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 4 Apr after | 28.4 °C | 28 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 5 Apr after | 31.0 °C | 22 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 6 Apr after | 31.3 °C | 26 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 7 Apr after | 32.0 °C | 26 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
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 · 210Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mongping fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 March 2023 and 28 March 2023: 6 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 5,057 hectares (50.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mongping (5,092 ha, 0.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.4 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 41 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.