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Nalae fire, March 2019 Nalae, Hoon

Out · last detection 2 Apr 2019, 05:52 UTC

The fire started on 16 March 2019 in Nalae, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,952 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 3th largest in Luang Namtha since 2016 (of 36 with a page). Number 9 in Laos in 2019, of 117.

Burnt area
6,952ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
18days
16 Mar 2019 – 2 Apr 2019
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
16 Mar
2019
Heat detections
305
in a single hotspot: 404 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Energy released
15.2GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

2 Apr 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Mar2 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

1617181920212223242526272829303112

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

34°high
46km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 15 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 14.5 mm on 3 Apr.

This area had burned before

49% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,436 ha in 2017, 1,490 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,379 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Nalae where it started
    4,384 ha reached on 16 Mar
    2.6 %
  2. Hoon
    2,603 ha reached on 18 Mar
    1.2 %

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)
16 Mar 30.6 °C 43 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
17 Mar 31.9 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
18 Mar 31.4 °C 41 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
19 Mar 30.3 °C 42 % 46 km/h 0.2 mm High 26
20 Mar 32.2 °C 28 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Mar 32.5 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
22 Mar 32.3 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Mar 32.8 °C 24 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
24 Mar 30.3 °C 47 % 45 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
25 Mar 31.6 °C 49 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm High 23
26 Mar 32.0 °C 47 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
27 Mar 32.4 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.3 mm High 24
28 Mar 31.7 °C 31 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
29 Mar 32.8 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
30 Mar 32.1 °C 30 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
31 Mar 32.7 °C 36 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
1 Apr 33.6 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
2 Apr 31.7 °C 40 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
3 Apr after 30.4 °C 53 % 35 km/h 14.5 mm Very low 3

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 9 Mar 2019
After · 9 Apr 2019

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 · 305Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Laos ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Nalae fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 16 March 2019 to 2 April 2019 (18 days). The perimeter dates it from 16 March 2019 to 28 March 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,952 hectares (69.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Nalae (4,384 ha, 2.6 %); Hoon (2,603 ha, 1.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.6 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Laos (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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.