Burned area
satellite only24,282ha
Union of 2 GWIS (Copernicus) perimeters: overlapping areas count once.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- 19 Mar 2020 – 7 Apr 2020
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
MM · Myanmar · –
Paletwa fire, 19 March 2020 Paletwa
Out · last detection 7 Apr 2020, 19:06 UTC
The fire started on 19 March 2020 in Paletwa, Myanmar, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 24,282 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 5th largest in Chin since 2016 (of 209 with a page). Number 4 in Myanmar in 2020, of 232.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-26matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only20days
19 Mar 2020 to 7 Apr 2020: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 7 Apr 2020, 19:06 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only19 Mar 2020
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 19 Mar 2020
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only824
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 319 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 19 Mar 2020 – 7 Apr 2020
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only20,613MW
Total radiative power on 28 March 2020; hotspots that day: 361.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 28 Mar 2020
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model41.9FWI · very high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 20.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 19 Mar 2020, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model41.7°C · 24% RH
High of 41.7 °C and minimum humidity of 24% on 2 April 2020; gusts of 43 km/h on 30 March 2020.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 19 Mar 2020 – 7 Apr 2020
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
Living inside
model≈ 1,200people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 0.31 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2020).
- Source
- GHSL R2023A · JRC
- Date
- calculated on 24 October 2026
+− cross-check
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
logLast day with fire: 31 March 2020 → 7 April 2020.
-
logStart date: 23 March 2020 → 19 March 2020.
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
What was saved on 26 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 24,287 ha
- Dates
- 19 Mar 2020 – 7 Apr 2020
- Name
- Paletwa
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/paletwa-2020-03-2?v=2026-10-26A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire paletwa-2020-03-2.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-03-19 | 11 | 47 | 38.6 | 19.4 | 17 | 9.4 | 34.6 | 0 | 41.9 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-20 | 1 | 5 | 37.7 | 18.8 | 21 | 9 | 29.9 | 0 | 41.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-21 | 36 | 463 | 35.9 | 18.7 | 32 | 10.7 | 27.7 | 0 | 37.6 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-22 | 3 | 12 | 36.1 | 20.5 | 27 | 10.1 | 33.5 | 0.4 | 37.3 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-23 | 8 | 144 | 36.1 | 17.3 | 28 | 9 | 26.6 | 0 | 36.6 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-24 | 45 | 1,779 | 35.4 | 19.5 | 31 | 10 | 31.3 | 0 | 36.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-25 | 29 | 787 | 38.3 | 19.1 | 25 | 10.2 | 27.4 | 0 | 37.2 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-26 | 104 | 1,471 | 38.6 | 20.2 | 27 | 8.3 | 29.2 | 0 | 35.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-27 | 6 | 215 | 39.9 | 22.6 | 28 | 10 | 26.6 | 0 | 37.5 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-28 | 361 | 20,613 | 41.1 | 22.7 | 24 | 11 | 37.8 | 0 | 40.5 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-29 | 30 | 631 | 41.3 | 23.1 | 29 | 11.5 | 36.4 | 0 | 41.2 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-30 | 43 | 265 | 40.3 | 22 | 22 | 14.3 | 43.2 | 0 | 45 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-03-31 | 71 | 284 | 41 | 21.2 | 16 | 12.5 | 41 | 0 | 48.4 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-04-01 | 21 | 116 | 40.8 | 21 | 17 | 9.2 | 32.8 | 0 | 45.1 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-04-02 | 0 | 0 | 41.7 | 20.8 | 24 | 10.9 | 35.3 | 0 | 47.1 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-04-03 | 2 | 14 | 41.1 | 22.7 | 30 | 10.4 | 34.2 | 0 | 42.2 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-04-04 | 34 | 437 | 38.9 | 21.1 | 31 | 9.2 | 34.2 | 0 | 38.9 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-04-05 | 1 | 11 | 39.7 | 20.8 | 26 | 9 | 33.1 | 0 | 38.9 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-04-06 | 11 | 51 | 39.8 | 23 | 26 | 11.5 | 35.6 | 0 | 41.5 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-04-07 | 7 | 26 | 40.7 | 21.7 | 23 | 11.3 | 36 | 0 | 41.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-04-08 | 0 | 0 | 40.4 | 21.9 | 23 | 13.5 | 38.9 | 0 | 44.2 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2020-04-09 | 0 | 0 | 40.6 | 21.9 | 26 | 9.7 | 40 | 0.1 | 40.6 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2020-04-10 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 24.6 | 33 | 7.6 | 29.2 | 0 | 36.4 | alto | 0 |
| 2020-04-11 | 0 | 0 | 40.2 | 23.5 | 24 | 11.2 | 28.8 | 0 | 40.6 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2020-04-12 | 0 | 0 | 40.1 | 22.8 | 23 | 12.7 | 40.7 | 0 | 42.8 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2020-04-13 | 0 | 0 | 40.6 | 21.1 | 25 | 13.3 | 38.2 | 0 | 43.6 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2020-04-14 | 0 | 0 | 41.6 | 22.4 | 24 | 9.7 | 33.8 | 0 | 40.3 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2020-04-15 | 0 | 0 | 42.5 | 23.4 | 25 | 12.9 | 37.4 | 0.2 | 43.7 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2020-04-16 | 0 | 0 | 38.5 | 23.5 | 40 | 12.1 | 40.7 | 4.4 | 13.7 | moderado | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: GWIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 24,282ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 20days
- 19 Mar 2020 – 7 Apr 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 19 Mar
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 824
- in a single hotspot: 319 MW
- Danger at start
- 42
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 1.4GW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
19 Mar7 Apr
7 Apr 2020
How it evolved, day by day
19 Mar
23 Mar
28 Mar
31 Mar
5 Apr
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
42°high
43km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity
It had gone 20 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.4 mm on 16 Apr.
This area had burned before
46% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 761 ha in 2016, 1,685 ha in 2017, 6,198 ha in 2018, 5,581 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 11,255 ha that had burned before.
- 2,120 ha Paletwa fire, March 2019 6,766 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,064 ha Paletwa fire, April 2018 2,790 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,291 ha Paletwa fire, March 2018 3,381 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Paletwa where it started24,380 ha reached on 19 Mar3.0 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2020Built-up area0.31 ha
Residents≈ 1,200
Inside the perimeter there were about 0.31 hectares of built-up land and about 1,200 residents (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Mar | 38.6 °C | 17 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 20 Mar | 37.7 °C | 21 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 21 Mar | 35.9 °C | 32 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 22 Mar | 36.1 °C | 27 % | 34 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 37 |
| 23 Mar | 36.1 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 24 Mar | 35.4 °C | 31 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 25 Mar | 38.3 °C | 25 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 26 Mar | 38.6 °C | 27 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 27 Mar | 39.9 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 28 Mar | 41.1 °C | 24 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 29 Mar | 41.3 °C | 29 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 30 Mar | 40.3 °C | 22 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 31 Mar | 41.0 °C | 16 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 1 Apr | 40.8 °C | 17 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 2 Apr | 41.7 °C | 24 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 3 Apr | 41.1 °C | 30 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 4 Apr | 38.9 °C | 31 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 5 Apr | 39.7 °C | 26 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 6 Apr | 39.8 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 7 Apr | 40.7 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 8 Apr after | 40.4 °C | 23 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 9 Apr after | 40.6 °C | 26 % | 40 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 41 |
| 10 Apr after | 39.0 °C | 33 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 11 Apr after | 40.2 °C | 24 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 12 Apr after | 40.1 °C | 23 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 13 Apr after | 40.6 °C | 25 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 14 Apr after | 41.6 °C | 24 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 15 Apr after | 42.5 °C | 25 % | 37 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 44 |
| 16 Apr after | 38.5 °C | 40 % | 41 km/h | 4.4 mm | Moderate 14 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 41.9, a minimum humidity of 17% and 20 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 23.
FWI at the start
41.9
Minimum humidity
17 %
Days without rain
20
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Paletwa fire, 19 March 2020
24,282 ha
20 days
FWI 41.9
Min. humidity 17 %
Paletwa fire, March 2023
3,923 ha
6 days
FWI 42.3
Min. humidity 17 %
24 km away, in 2023
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.8 mm on 31 Mar.
Paletwa fire, April 2023
2,164 ha
6 days
FWI 42.5
Min. humidity 20 %
49 km away, in 2023
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.2 mm on 21 Apr.
Buthidaung fire, April 2023
2,826 ha
13 days
FWI 41.2
Min. humidity 19 %
62 km away, in 2023
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.2 mm on 21 Apr.
Sidoktaya fire, March 2017
2,244 ha
12 days
FWI 39.0
Min. humidity 18 %
118 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Buthidaung fire, April 2023
2,591 ha
9 days
FWI 38.2
Min. humidity 17 %
62 km away, in 2023
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.7 mm on 21 Apr.
What happened to them
- 11 days
- median duration
- 2,806 ha
- median area
- 100 %
- went past 1,000 ha
- 1.6 mm
- rain at the end (median; 20 of 23 had it)
It was 8.7 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 20 days, against 11 days.
None of its 23 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 3 of 23, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.6 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
4.4 mmfirst rain
16 Apr9 days after it ended
43km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 7 Apr, and on 16 Apr 4.4 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 20 of 23, with a median of 1.6 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
- Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
- Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
- Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
- Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
- They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 12 Mar 2020
After · 14 Apr 2020
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 · 824Every 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 time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 145,831 haPaletwa6 April 2023 · 16 days · 5 km away
- 77,924 haPaletwa5 April 2023 · 16 days · 19 km away
- 16,369 haPaletwa23 March 2019 · 8 days · 26 km away
- 14,894 haPaletwa24 March 2020 · 15 days · 29 km away
- 53,795 haPaletwa13 March 2021 · 23 days · 30 km away
- 26,261 haKyauktawApril 2023 · 16 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Paletwa fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 19 March 2020 to 7 April 2020 (20 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 March 2020 to 31 March 2020.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 24,282 hectares (242.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Paletwa (24,380 ha, 3.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 41.7 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Myanmar (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
- How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
- Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 23. Their median duration was 11 days and their median area 2,806 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. None of its 23 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 3 of 23, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.6 mm.
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
History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
- Last day with fire: 31 March 2020 → 7 April 2020.
- Start date: 23 March 2020 → 19 March 2020.
RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 23 March 2020 to 31 March 2020. 824 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
- Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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 ADM3 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.