Nambak fire, March 2021 Nambak, Nga
The fire started on 24 March 2021 in Nambak, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,927 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 129th largest in Luang Prabang since 2016 (of 293 with a page). Number 29 in Laos in 2021, of 86.
- Burnt area
- 2,927ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 9days
- 24 Mar 2021 – 1 Apr 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 24 Mar
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 79
- in a single hotspot: 187 MW
- Danger at start
- 9
- Low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.8GW
- 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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 14.5 mm on 4 Apr.
This area had burned before
69% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 573 ha in 2016, 651 ha in 2017, 918 ha in 2018, 576 ha in 2019, 1,231 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,008 ha that had burned before.
- 1,231 ha Nambak fire, March 2020 2,547 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 918 ha Nga fire, April 2018 40,796 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 651 ha Nambak fire, April 2017 2,083 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 218 ha Nga fire, March 2019 2,161 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Nambak where it started1,917 ha reached on 24 Mar1.0 %
-
1,023 ha reached on 25 Mar0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Mar | 29.2 °C | 54 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 25 Mar | 30.7 °C | 50 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 11 |
| 26 Mar | 31.8 °C | 52 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 27 Mar | 33.0 °C | 44 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 28 Mar | 32.1 °C | 48 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 29 Mar | 32.8 °C | 42 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 30 Mar | 30.8 °C | 41 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 31 Mar | 34.6 °C | 27 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 1 Apr | 34.4 °C | 30 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 2 Apr after | 34.6 °C | 31 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 3 Apr after | 33.4 °C | 36 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 4 Apr after | 24.0 °C | 65 % | 19 km/h | 14.5 mm | Very low 0 |
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 · 79Every 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 Nambak fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 24 March 2021 to 1 April 2021 (9 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 March 2021 to 29 March 2021.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,927 hectares (29.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Nambak (1,917 ha, 1.0 %); Nga (1,023 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, 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.