Phonxay fire, 4 March 2019 Phonxay
The fire started on 4 March 2019 in Phonxay, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,057 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 74th largest in Luang Prabang since 2016 (of 293 with a page). Number 34 in Laos in 2019, of 117.
- Burnt area
- 4,057ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 14days
- 4 Mar 2019 – 17 Mar 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 4 Mar
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 136
- in a single hotspot: 279 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.3GW
- 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 14 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 18 Mar.
This area had burned before
80% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,923 ha in 2016, 2,366 ha in 2017, 1,971 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,255 ha that had burned before.
- 1,986 ha Phonxay fire, March 2017 2,435 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,512 ha Phonxay fire, March 2016 3,078 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 410 ha Phonxay fire, March 2016 3,584 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 381 ha Phonxay fire, April 2017 2,110 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Phonxay where it started4,079 ha reached on 4 Mar1.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Mar | 30.9 °C | 33 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 5 Mar | 31.3 °C | 33 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 6 Mar | 32.7 °C | 31 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 7 Mar | 31.0 °C | 34 % | 39 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 22 |
| 8 Mar | 30.5 °C | 36 % | 46 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 24 |
| 9 Mar | 31.6 °C | 31 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 10 Mar | 31.7 °C | 26 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 11 Mar | 32.5 °C | 24 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 12 Mar | 31.8 °C | 23 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 13 Mar | 31.7 °C | 29 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 14 Mar | 32.5 °C | 29 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 15 Mar | 30.9 °C | 38 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 16 Mar | 30.5 °C | 48 % | 32 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 17 Mar | 30.7 °C | 42 % | 35 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 18 Mar after | 30.6 °C | 42 % | 30 km/h | 1.3 mm | Moderate 13 |
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 · 136Every 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 Phonxay fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 4 March 2019 to 17 March 2019 (14 days). The perimeter dates it from 7 March 2019 to 17 March 2019.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,057 hectares (40.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Phonxay (4,079 ha, 1.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.7 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 48 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.
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.