Phookood fire, March 2021 Phookood, Phonxay
The fire started on 5 March 2021 in Phookood, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,102 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 22th largest in Xiangkhouang since 2016 (of 107 with a page). Number 8 in Laos in 2021, of 86.
- Burnt area
- 5,102ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 16days
- 5 Mar 2021 – 20 Mar 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 5 Mar
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 137
- in a single hotspot: 187 MW
- Danger at start
- 11
- Low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.0GW
- 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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.4 mm on 21 Mar.
This area had burned before
15% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 350 ha in 2017, 1 ha in 2019, 474 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 769 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Phookood where it started3,728 ha reached on 5 Mar1.5 %
-
1,404 ha reached on 8 Mar0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Mar | 31.6 °C | 42 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 6 Mar | 31.6 °C | 39 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 7 Mar | 30.8 °C | 38 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 8 Mar | 29.5 °C | 52 % | 32 km/h | 0.7 mm | Low 10 |
| 9 Mar | 30.2 °C | 45 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 10 Mar | 30.5 °C | 51 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 11 Mar | 30.8 °C | 43 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 12 Mar | 30.6 °C | 50 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 13 Mar | 30.6 °C | 44 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 14 Mar | 30.7 °C | 49 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 15 Mar | 31.0 °C | 49 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 16 Mar | 32.6 °C | 45 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 17 Mar | 33.1 °C | 42 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 18 Mar | 32.0 °C | 54 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 19 Mar | 33.1 °C | 50 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 20 Mar | 33.1 °C | 52 % | 26 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 21 Mar after | 34.5 °C | 52 % | 30 km/h | 4.4 mm | Very low 4 |
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 · 137Every 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 Phookood fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 5 March 2021 to 20 March 2021 (16 days). The perimeter dates it from 12 March 2021 to 18 March 2021.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,102 hectares (51.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Phookood (3,728 ha, 1.5 %); Phonxay (1,404 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.1 °C, humidity dropped to 38 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 16, class Moderate.
- 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.