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Pak Xeng fire, March 2016 Phonxay, Pak Xeng

Out · last detection 17 Apr 2016, 19:13 UTC

The fire started on 30 March 2016 in Pak Xeng, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,120 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 120th largest in Luang Prabang since 2016 (of 293 with a page). Number 55 in Laos in 2016, of 143.

Burnt area
3,120ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
18days
30 Mar 2016 – 16 Apr 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
30 Mar
2016
Heat detections
169
in a single hotspot: 210 MW
Danger at start
15
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
4.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

17 Apr 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 30 Mar16 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

3031134567891011121314151617

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
49km/h · peak gust
29%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.7 mm on 18 Apr.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Phonxay
    2,263 ha reached on 31 Mar
    0.9 %
  2. Pak Xeng where it started
    875 ha reached on 30 Mar
    0.5 %

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)
30 Mar 29.9 °C 43 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
31 Mar 30.5 °C 41 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 16
1 Apr 29.2 °C 48 % 42 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 14
2 Apr 28.4 °C 53 % 40 km/h 1.2 mm Low 9
3 Apr 31.6 °C 37 % 43 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 19
4 Apr 33.2 °C 33 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
5 Apr 33.0 °C 34 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
6 Apr 33.5 °C 32 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
7 Apr 33.9 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
8 Apr 33.1 °C 39 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
9 Apr 31.7 °C 51 % 45 km/h 2.0 mm Low 9
10 Apr 34.0 °C 33 % 46 km/h 0.7 mm High 23
11 Apr 35.8 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
12 Apr 35.2 °C 30 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
13 Apr 34.4 °C 32 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
14 Apr 35.3 °C 32 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Apr 35.2 °C 30 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
16 Apr 34.5 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
17 Apr after 34.4 °C 33 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
18 Apr after 31.5 °C 48 % 31 km/h 6.7 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 23 Mar 2016
After · 23 Apr 2016

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 · 169Every 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 Pak Xeng fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 30 March 2016 to 16 April 2016 (18 days). The perimeter dates it from 5 April 2016 to 9 April 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,120 hectares (31.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Phonxay (2,263 ha, 0.9 %); Pak Xeng (875 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.8 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, 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.

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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.