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Phiang fire, 20 March 2023 Phiang

Out · last detection 28 Mar 2023, 18:25 UTC

The fire started on 20 March 2023 in Phiang, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,874 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 41th largest in Xaignabouli since 2016 (of 122 with a page). Number 69 in Laos in 2023, of 214.

Burnt area
3,874ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
20 Mar 2023 – 28 Mar 2023
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
20 Mar
2023
Heat detections
135
in a single hotspot: 89 MW
Danger at start
13
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
596MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

28 Mar 2023
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Mar28 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

202122232425262728

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
40km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

59% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,357 ha in 2016, 389 ha in 2019, 2,120 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,280 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Phiang where it started
    3,893 ha reached on 20 Mar
    1.4 %

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)
20 Mar 32.0 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 13
21 Mar 33.3 °C 34 % 40 km/h 1.5 mm Moderate 14
22 Mar 34.0 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
23 Mar 34.4 °C 25 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm High 28
24 Mar 34.3 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 Mar 34.4 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
26 Mar 33.3 °C 28 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
27 Mar 32.9 °C 33 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
28 Mar 31.8 °C 43 % 40 km/h 1.9 mm Low 11
29 Mar after 31.3 °C 44 % 32 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 17
30 Mar after 30.9 °C 43 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
31 Mar after 32.8 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
1 Apr after 33.3 °C 34 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
2 Apr after 34.8 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Apr after 34.4 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
4 Apr after 34.1 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
5 Apr after 34.4 °C 24 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
6 Apr after 34.4 °C 27 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
7 Apr after 34.1 °C 31 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 13 Mar 2023
After · 4 Apr 2023

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 · 135Every 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 Phiang fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 March 2023 to 28 March 2023 (9 days). The perimeter dates it from 21 March 2023 to 28 March 2023.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,874 hectares (38.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Phiang (3,893 ha, 1.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, 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.