Pha Oudom fire, March 2021 Pha Oudom
The fire started on 18 March 2021 in Pha Oudom, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,857 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 40th largest in Bokeo since 2016 (of 59 with a page). Number 34 in Laos in 2021, of 86.
- Burnt area
- 2,857ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 15days
- 18 Mar 2021 – 1 Apr 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 18 Mar
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 73
- in a single hotspot: 301 MW
- Danger at start
- 22
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.8GW
- 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 14 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.6 mm on 3 Apr.
This area had burned before
87% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 776 ha in 2017, 1,661 ha in 2019, 1,494 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,494 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Pha Oudom where it started2,873 ha reached on 20 Mar1.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Mar | 36.2 °C | 35 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 19 Mar | 36.3 °C | 37 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 20 Mar | 36.2 °C | 39 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 21 Mar | 37.3 °C | 38 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 22 Mar | 28.5 °C | 63 % | 38 km/h | 5.0 mm | Very low 3 |
| 23 Mar | 29.5 °C | 60 % | 24 km/h | 0.1 mm | Low 5 |
| 24 Mar | 33.6 °C | 47 % | 32 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 25 Mar | 35.6 °C | 40 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 26 Mar | 35.8 °C | 41 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 27 Mar | 36.3 °C | 31 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 28 Mar | 36.1 °C | 38 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 29 Mar | 36.0 °C | 36 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 30 Mar | 34.5 °C | 34 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 31 Mar | 37.3 °C | 22 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Apr | 37.0 °C | 28 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 2 Apr after | 37.9 °C | 26 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 3 Apr after | 36.3 °C | 37 % | 24 km/h | 6.6 mm | Very low 5 |
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 · 73Every 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 18 March 2021 to 1 April 2021 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 March 2021 to 30 March 2021.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,857 hectares (28.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Pha Oudom (2,873 ha, 1.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.3 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 46 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.