Phookood fire, 16 March 2026 Phookood, Phonxay
The fire started on 16 March 2026 in Phookood, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 37 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 36,914 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the largest fire in Xiangkhouang since 2016 (of 107 with a page). Number 7 in Laos in 2026, of 287.
- Burnt area
- 36,914ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 37days
- 16 Mar 2026 – 21 Apr 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 16 Mar
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 1,303
- in a single hotspot: 333 MW
- Danger at start
- 4
- Very low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 26.2GW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 9.8 mm on 23 Apr.
This area had burned before
81% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,146 ha in 2016, 7,305 ha in 2017, 3,397 ha in 2018, 6,132 ha in 2019, 4,765 ha in 2020, 7,560 ha in 2021, 6,207 ha in 2022, 13,396 ha in 2023, 12,167 ha in 2024, 11,005 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 29,974 ha that had burned before.
- 4,077 ha Phookood fire, March 2021 5,102 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,021 ha Phookood fire, March 2024 4,224 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,004 ha Phonxay fire, March 2023 6,759 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,423 ha Phonxay fire, March 2020 6,878 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,399 ha Phonxay fire, March 2024 9,867 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,396 ha Phonxay fire, April 2022 3,601 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,391 ha Phonxay fire, March 2016 3,584 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,325 ha Phonxay fire, March 2019 4,827 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Phookood where it started27,357 ha reached on 16 Mar11 %
-
9,774 ha reached on 18 Mar3.8 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Mar | 28.0 °C | 57 % | 23 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very low 4 |
| 17 Mar | 28.4 °C | 56 % | 29 km/h | 0.4 mm | Low 6 |
| 18 Mar | 30.2 °C | 53 % | 25 km/h | 0.1 mm | Low 7 |
| 19 Mar | 30.4 °C | 47 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 20 Mar | 31.7 °C | 50 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 21 Mar | 31.9 °C | 47 % | 23 km/h | 0.2 mm | Low 10 |
| 22 Mar | 30.2 °C | 58 % | 34 km/h | 2.1 mm | Very low 3 |
| 23 Mar | 32.7 °C | 39 % | 29 km/h | 0.1 mm | Low 11 |
| 24 Mar | 33.3 °C | 37 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 25 Mar | 31.9 °C | 51 % | 33 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 26 Mar | 33.9 °C | 37 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 27 Mar | 33.9 °C | 37 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 28 Mar | 33.5 °C | 39 % | 30 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 29 Mar | 33.0 °C | 40 % | 43 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 30 Mar | 32.2 °C | 42 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 31 Mar | 32.6 °C | 40 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 1 Apr | 33.3 °C | 41 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 2 Apr | 32.5 °C | 46 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 3 Apr | 33.9 °C | 41 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 4 Apr | 32.9 °C | 43 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 5 Apr | 32.3 °C | 46 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 6 Apr | 33.6 °C | 44 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 7 Apr | 33.8 °C | 43 % | 34 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 8 Apr | 35.7 °C | 29 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 9 Apr | 35.7 °C | 29 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 10 Apr | 34.6 °C | 32 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 11 Apr | 34.4 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 12 Apr | 34.9 °C | 33 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 13 Apr | 35.4 °C | 36 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 14 Apr | 34.6 °C | 38 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 15 Apr | 35.0 °C | 36 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 16 Apr | 36.7 °C | 25 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 17 Apr | 35.0 °C | 34 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 18 Apr | 32.2 °C | 48 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 19 Apr | 30.3 °C | 66 % | 32 km/h | 3.4 mm | Very low 4 |
| 20 Apr | 32.0 °C | 55 % | 36 km/h | 0.7 mm | Low 9 |
| 21 Apr | 33.2 °C | 52 % | 36 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 22 Apr after | 33.7 °C | 47 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 23 Apr after | 32.5 °C | 57 % | 31 km/h | 9.8 mm | Very low 2 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 13 April 2026 the air beside the fire reached 173 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 113: 7.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 1,303Every 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 16 March 2026 to 21 April 2026 (37 days). The perimeter dates it from 16 March 2026 to 14 April 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 36,914 hectares (369.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Phookood (27,357 ha, 11 %); Phonxay (9,774 ha, 3.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.7 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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.