Pha Oudom fire, 21 March 2019 Pha Oudom, Pakbeng
The fire started on 21 March 2019 in Pha Oudom, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,424 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 2th largest in Bokeo since 2016 (of 59 with a page). Number 4 in Laos in 2019, of 117.
- Burnt area
- 11,424ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 13days
- 21 Mar 2019 – 2 Apr 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 21 Mar
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 357
- in a single hotspot: 545 MW
- Danger at start
- 28
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 17.3GW
- 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 33 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 3 Apr.
This area had burned before
58% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 6,213 ha in 2016, 1,693 ha in 2017, 802 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,619 ha that had burned before.
- 2,942 ha Pha Oudom fire, March 2016 12,233 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,051 ha Pha Oudom fire, April 2016 5,164 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 949 ha Pakbeng fire, April 2017 3,537 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 625 ha Pha Oudom fire, April 2017 2,942 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Pha Oudom where it started9,870 ha reached on 21 Mar5.8 %
-
1,613 ha reached on 25 Mar1.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Mar | 32.5 °C | 45 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 25 Mar | 34.0 °C | 49 % | 36 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 22 |
| 26 Mar | 34.6 °C | 47 % | 36 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 22 |
| 27 Mar | 34.5 °C | 39 % | 39 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Mar | 33.5 °C | 33 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 29 Mar | 34.5 °C | 23 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 30 Mar | 34.2 °C | 31 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 31 Mar | 34.7 °C | 38 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 1 Apr | 35.7 °C | 30 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 2 Apr | 33.9 °C | 38 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 3 Apr after | 33.7 °C | 45 % | 36 km/h | 1.3 mm | Moderate 18 |
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 · 357Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Pha Oudom fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 21 March 2019 to 2 April 2019 (13 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 March 2019 to 2 April 2019.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 11,424 hectares (114.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Pha Oudom (9,870 ha, 5.8 %); Pakbeng (1,613 ha, 1.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.7 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 43 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.
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.