Nalae fire, April 2026 Hoon, Nalae
The fire started on 1 April 2026 in Nalae, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,007 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 4th largest in Luang Namtha since 2016 (of 36 with a page). Number 106 in Laos in 2026, of 287.
- Burnt area
- 4,007ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 17days
- 1 Apr 2026 – 17 Apr 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 1 Apr
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 116
- in a single hotspot: 349 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 6.2GW
- 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. Rain came after the fire: 2.7 mm on 19 Apr.
This area had burned before
97% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,639 ha in 2017, 2,209 ha in 2019, 2,540 ha in 2020, 1,268 ha in 2021, 81 ha in 2023, 737 ha in 2024, 542 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,867 ha that had burned before.
- 2,540 ha Hoon fire, March 2020 7,519 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,724 ha Nalae fire, March 2019 6,952 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,616 ha Hoon fire, April 2017 4,307 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 350 ha Nalae fire, March 2025 2,490 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 243 ha Nalae fire, March 2024 3,215 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 23 ha Nalae fire, March 2023 2,370 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
2,366 ha reached on 3 Apr1.1 %
-
Nalae where it started1,663 ha reached on 1 Apr1.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Apr | 34.8 °C | 41 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 2 Apr | 35.6 °C | 39 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 3 Apr | 36.5 °C | 34 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 4 Apr | 36.0 °C | 36 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 5 Apr | 35.9 °C | 39 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 6 Apr | 36.1 °C | 40 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 7 Apr | 36.0 °C | 42 % | 37 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 24 |
| 8 Apr | 36.1 °C | 37 % | 38 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 25 |
| 9 Apr | 35.4 °C | 37 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 10 Apr | 35.1 °C | 33 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 11 Apr | 35.5 °C | 34 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 12 Apr | 36.4 °C | 23 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 13 Apr | 37.1 °C | 31 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 14 Apr | 36.9 °C | 33 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 15 Apr | 37.3 °C | 34 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 16 Apr | 37.5 °C | 28 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 17 Apr | 36.5 °C | 36 % | 26 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 30 |
| 18 Apr after | 35.0 °C | 41 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 19 Apr after | 35.3 °C | 46 % | 35 km/h | 2.7 mm | Low 10 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 18 April 2026 the air beside the fire reached 215 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 146: 9.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 116Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 14,815 haHoon22 March 2026 · 27 days · 13 km away
- 12,233 haPha Oudom28 March 2016 · 22 days · 18 km away
- 11,734 haBeng18 March 2023 · 26 days · 20 km away
- 10,361 haPha Oudom21 March 2020 · 23 days · 28 km away
- 11,424 haPha Oudom21 March 2019 · 13 days · 29 km away
- 13,326 haHoon8 April 2018 · 7 days · 31 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Nalae fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 1 April 2026 to 17 April 2026 (17 days). The perimeter dates it from 1 April 2026 to 12 April 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,007 hectares (40.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Hoon (2,366 ha, 1.1 %); Nalae (1,663 ha, 1.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.5 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, 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.
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 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.