Mongton fire, 9 March 2020 Mongton, Mongpan
The fire started on 9 March 2020 in Mongton, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,252 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 183th largest in Shan since 2016 (of 723 with a page). Number 43 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2020, of 166.
- Burnt area
- 4,252ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 9 Mar 2020 – 13 Mar 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 9 Mar
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 174
- in a single hotspot: 37 MW
- Danger at start
- 38
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 588MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.1 mm on 21 Mar.
This area had burned before
89% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 459 ha in 2016, 1,726 ha in 2017, 731 ha in 2018, 3,292 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,781 ha that had burned before.
- 3,251 ha Mongpan fire, March 2019 20,728 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 715 ha Mongton fire, February 2017 2,030 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 218 ha Mongpan fire, February 2017 3,164 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Mongton where it started3,875 ha reached on 3 Mar0.8 %
-
392 ha reached on 10 Mar0.1 %
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 Mar | 34.4 °C | 21 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 10 Mar | 35.6 °C | 21 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 11 Mar | 36.4 °C | 20 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 12 Mar | 36.3 °C | 24 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 13 Mar | 36.8 °C | 25 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 14 Mar after | 36.4 °C | 25 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 15 Mar after | 37.2 °C | 24 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 16 Mar after | 36.7 °C | 21 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 17 Mar after | 36.5 °C | 23 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 18 Mar after | 36.4 °C | 22 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 19 Mar after | 35.6 °C | 21 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 20 Mar after | 35.9 °C | 24 % | 41 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 43 |
| 21 Mar after | 34.0 °C | 29 % | 46 km/h | 4.1 mm | Moderate 14 |
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 · 174Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 21,661 haMongton21 March 2026 · 17 days · 4 km away
- 20,728 haMongpan8 March 2019 · 18 days · 5 km away
- 21,035 haMongton16 February 2024 · 30 days · 9 km away
- 20,047 haMongton22 March 2026 · 23 days · 19 km away
- 13,153 haLangkho20 March 2026 · 15 days · 29 km away
- 11,077 haPai28 February 2020 · 26 days · 33 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mongton fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 March 2020 and 13 March 2020: 5 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 4,252 hectares (42.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mongton (3,875 ha, 0.8 %); Mongpan (392 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very 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.