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Parklai fire, 9 March 2016 Parklai, Thongmyxay

Out · last detection 27 Mar 2016, 06:37 UTC

The fire started on 9 March 2016 in Parklai, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 19 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,848 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 68th largest in Xaignabouli since 2016 (of 122 with a page). Number 69 in Laos in 2016, of 143.

Burnt area
2,848ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
19days
9 Mar 2016 – 27 Mar 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
9 Mar
2016
Heat detections
97
in a single hotspot: 45 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Energy released
844MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

27 Mar 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Mar27 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

91316171820212223242527

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

The weather it burned in

39°high
49km/h · peak gust
25%lowest humidity

It had gone 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.4 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
    2,718 ha reached on 9 Mar
    1.2 %
  2. Thongmyxay
    144 ha reached on 22 Mar
    0.2 %

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)
9 Mar 37.7 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
10 Mar 38.1 °C 31 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
11 Mar 33.5 °C 48 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
12 Mar 34.0 °C 45 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
13 Mar 36.8 °C 36 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
14 Mar 37.6 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
15 Mar 38.1 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
16 Mar 38.4 °C 26 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
17 Mar 38.6 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Mar 38.5 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 Mar 37.6 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 Mar 37.9 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
21 Mar 37.9 °C 33 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
22 Mar 38.1 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
23 Mar 37.9 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Mar 38.0 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
25 Mar 30.5 °C 48 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
26 Mar 32.7 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
27 Mar 29.8 °C 52 % 39 km/h 2.5 mm Low 8
28 Mar after 32.9 °C 42 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
29 Mar after 32.6 °C 47 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
30 Mar after 33.8 °C 52 % 27 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 17
31 Mar after 34.4 °C 47 % 23 km/h 2.4 mm Low 7

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 2 Mar 2016
After · 3 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 · 97Every 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 9 March 2016 to 27 March 2016 (19 days). The perimeter dates it from 16 March 2016 to 24 March 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,848 hectares (28.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Parklai (2,718 ha, 1.2 %); Thongmyxay (144 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.6 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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.