Nga fire, 22 March 2023 Nga
The fire started on 22 March 2023 in Nga, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,083 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 84th largest in Oudomxay since 2016 (of 241 with a page). Number 64 in Laos in 2023, of 214.
- Burnt area
- 4,083ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 15days
- 22 Mar 2023 – 5 Apr 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 22 Mar
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 125
- in a single hotspot: 285 MW
- Danger at start
- 28
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.4GW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
61% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 557 ha in 2016, 153 ha in 2017, 364 ha in 2018, 476 ha in 2019, 2,025 ha in 2020, 146 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,472 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Nga where it started4,102 ha reached on 22 Mar2.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Mar | 35.2 °C | 32 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 23 Mar | 36.0 °C | 29 % | 46 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 31 |
| 24 Mar | 34.9 °C | 33 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 25 Mar | 35.3 °C | 34 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 26 Mar | 34.3 °C | 33 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 27 Mar | 33.7 °C | 39 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 28 Mar | 33.1 °C | 46 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 29 Mar | 33.0 °C | 43 % | 42 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 24 |
| 30 Mar | 32.2 °C | 51 % | 35 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 31 Mar | 33.6 °C | 42 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 1 Apr | 35.0 °C | 37 % | 41 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 26 |
| 2 Apr | 36.1 °C | 30 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 3 Apr | 35.3 °C | 32 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 4 Apr | 35.6 °C | 30 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 5 Apr | 35.4 °C | 30 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 6 Apr after | 35.2 °C | 35 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 7 Apr after | 35.2 °C | 36 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 8 Apr after | 32.9 °C | 50 % | 30 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 25 |
| 9 Apr after | 34.2 °C | 50 % | 43 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 26 |
| 10 Apr after | 36.6 °C | 37 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 11 Apr after | 37.4 °C | 36 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 12 Apr after | 37.2 °C | 36 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 13 Apr after | 37.0 °C | 39 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 14 Apr after | 37.9 °C | 37 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 15 Apr after | 36.2 °C | 44 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
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 · 125Every 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 Nga fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 March 2023 to 5 April 2023 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 March 2023 to 29 March 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,083 hectares (40.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Nga (4,102 ha, 2.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.1 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 46 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.