Skip to content
worldfires
LA · Laos · →

Ngoi fire, 25 March 2023 Ngoi, Pak Xeng

Out · last detection 25 Apr 2023, 19:39 UTC

The fire started on 25 March 2023 in Ngoi, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 32 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 15,019 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 7th largest in Luang Prabang since 2016 (of 293 with a page). Number 13 in Laos in 2023, of 214.

Burnt area
15,019ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
32days
25 Mar 2023 – 25 Apr 2023
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
25 Mar
2023
Heat detections
758
in a single hotspot: 400 MW
Danger at start
22
High · FWI index
Energy released
14.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Apr 2023
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Mar25 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

252628293112345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
43km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 25 Apr.

This area had burned before

77% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 974 ha in 2016, 451 ha in 2018, 6,542 ha in 2019, 4,949 ha in 2020, 2,495 ha in 2021, 900 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 11,514 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Ngoi where it started
    10,415 ha reached on 25 Mar
    5.4 %
  2. Pak Xeng
    4,666 ha reached on 25 Mar
    2.8 %

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 33.1 °C 35 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
2 Apr 33.9 °C 31 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
3 Apr 33.7 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
4 Apr 34.1 °C 27 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
5 Apr 34.2 °C 26 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
6 Apr 34.7 °C 27 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
7 Apr 33.7 °C 35 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
8 Apr 30.0 °C 52 % 31 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 20
9 Apr 31.9 °C 50 % 36 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 15
10 Apr 34.6 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
11 Apr 35.9 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
12 Apr 35.4 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
13 Apr 35.2 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Apr 36.3 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
15 Apr 36.0 °C 32 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
16 Apr 33.8 °C 43 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
17 Apr 34.4 °C 40 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
18 Apr 37.5 °C 28 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
19 Apr 37.7 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
20 Apr 37.0 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
21 Apr 36.5 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
22 Apr 35.0 °C 36 % 35 km/h 0.8 mm High 28
23 Apr 37.1 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Apr 34.5 °C 34 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Apr 35.3 °C 35 % 26 km/h 1.2 mm High 23

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 18 Mar 2023
After · 2 May 2023

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 · 758Every 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 Ngoi fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 25 March 2023 to 25 April 2023 (32 days). The perimeter dates it from 1 April 2023 to 23 April 2023.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 15,019 hectares (150.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ngoi (10,415 ha, 5.4 %); Pak Xeng (4,666 ha, 2.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class Very 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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

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.