Mongton fire, April 2016 Mongton, Monghsat, Mongping
The fire started on 9 April 2016 in Mongton, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,796 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 378th largest in Shan since 2016 (of 723 with a page). Number 60 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2016, of 119.
- Burnt area
- 2,796ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 9 Apr 2016 – 11 Apr 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 9 Apr
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 99
- in a single hotspot: 33 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 519MW
- 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 41 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Mongton where it started2,505 ha reached on 2 Apr0.5 %
-
254 ha reached on 11 Apr0.0 %
-
56 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Apr | 33.6 °C | 33 % | 35 km/h | 1.6 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 10 Apr | 34.8 °C | 26 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 11 Apr | 36.5 °C | 21 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 12 Apr after | 35.0 °C | 22 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 13 Apr after | 34.2 °C | 24 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 14 Apr after | 35.3 °C | 27 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 15 Apr after | 36.1 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 16 Apr after | 36.4 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 17 Apr after | 35.9 °C | 21 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 18 Apr after | 35.8 °C | 27 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 19 Apr after | 34.8 °C | 27 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 20 Apr after | 36.8 °C | 16 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 21 Apr after | 35.8 °C | 21 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
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 · 99Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 41,742 haMongton21 March 2026 · 25 days · 10 km away
- 10,446 haMongping23 March 2023 · 10 days · 14 km away
- 12,542 haMongton26 March 2019 · 16 days · 20 km away
- 34,370 haMonghsat19 March 2026 · 14 days · 27 km away
- 27,764 haMongping22 March 2023 · 11 days · 35 km away
- 22,833 haMongping24 March 2019 · 21 days · 35 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mongton fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 April 2016 and 11 April 2016: 3 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 2,796 hectares (28.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Mongton (2,505 ha, 0.5 %); Monghsat (254 ha, 0.0 %); Mongping (56 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.5 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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.