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Parklai fire, 11 March 2016 Parklai

Out · last detection 28 Mar 2016, 06:18 UTC

The fire started on 11 March 2016 in Parklai, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,534 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 47th largest in Xaignabouli since 2016 (of 122 with a page). Number 46 in Laos in 2016, of 143.

Burnt area
3,534ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
18days
11 Mar 2016 – 28 Mar 2016
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
11 Mar
2016
Heat detections
150
in a single hotspot: 86 MW
Danger at start
25
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

28 Mar 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 11 Mar28 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

11131416171819202122232425262728

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

The weather it burned in

40°high
44km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone 40 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 31 Mar.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Parklai where it started
    3,549 ha reached on 11 Mar
    1.6 %

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)
11 Mar 33.4 °C 44 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
12 Mar 33.8 °C 42 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
13 Mar 37.8 °C 33 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
14 Mar 37.4 °C 37 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
15 Mar 38.4 °C 32 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
16 Mar 39.8 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
17 Mar 39.9 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
18 Mar 39.9 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Mar 39.0 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
20 Mar 39.2 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
21 Mar 39.3 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
22 Mar 39.2 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Mar 39.4 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
24 Mar 38.8 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Mar 30.1 °C 45 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Mar 31.6 °C 43 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
27 Mar 30.2 °C 46 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
28 Mar 32.6 °C 40 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
29 Mar after 33.4 °C 39 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
30 Mar after 34.4 °C 44 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
31 Mar after 35.3 °C 44 % 25 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 16

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 4 Mar 2016
After · 4 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 · 150Every 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 Parklai fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 11 March 2016 to 28 March 2016 (18 days). The perimeter dates it from 14 March 2016 to 25 March 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,534 hectares (35.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Parklai (3,549 ha, 1.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.9 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, 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.

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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.