Ngoi fire, May 2023 Ngoi
The fire started on 3 May 2023 in Ngoi, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,832 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 143th largest in Luang Prabang since 2016 (of 293 with a page). Number 116 in Laos in 2023, of 214.
- Burnt area
- 2,832ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 3 May 2023 – 6 May 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 3 May
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 75
- in a single hotspot: 161 MW
- Danger at start
- 1
- Very low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.9GW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.2 mm on 8 May.
This area had burned before
86% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,027 ha in 2017, 1,436 ha in 2019, 47 ha in 2021, 233 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,447 ha that had burned before.
- 1,027 ha Ngoi fire, May 2017 4,565 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 466 ha Ngoi fire, April 2019 2,886 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 43 ha Ngoi fire, April 2021 2,245 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Ngoi where it started2,842 ha reached on 4 May1.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 May | 32.8 °C | 52 % | 35 km/h | 5.7 mm | Very low 1 |
| 4 May | 35.3 °C | 39 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 5 May | 36.3 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 6 May | 36.8 °C | 36 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 7 May after | 37.0 °C | 40 % | 31 km/h | 0.6 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 8 May after | 33.6 °C | 48 % | 28 km/h | 6.2 mm | Very low 2 |
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 · 75Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 15,019 haNgoi25 March 2023 · 32 days · 22 km away
- 10,440 haNambakApril 2018 · 6 days · 24 km away
- 56,191 haPark Ou22 March 2026 · 32 days · 31 km away
- 35,409 haPark Ou9 March 2020 · 29 days · 33 km away
- 19,543 haPak Xeng3 April 2023 · 27 days · 38 km away
- 14,236 haPark Ou26 March 2024 · 21 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ngoi fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 3 May 2023 to 6 May 2023 (4 days). The perimeter dates it from 4 May 2023 to 6 May 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,832 hectares (28.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Ngoi (2,842 ha, 1.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 35 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 16, class Moderate.
- 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.