Skip to content
worldfires
MM · Myanmar (Burma) · →

Saw fire, 8 March 2020 Saw, Kanpetlet

Out · last detection 12 Mar 2020, 18:53 UTC

The fire started on 8 March 2020 in Saw, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,662 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 66th largest in Magway since 2016 (of 189 with a page). Number 56 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2020, of 166.

The power measured by the satellite is low (14.0 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
3,662ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
8 Mar 2020 – 12 Mar 2020
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
8 Mar
2020
Heat detections
147
in a single hotspot: 14 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Energy released
374MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

12 Mar 2020
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Mar12 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

89101112

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
48km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

51% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2 ha in 2016, 1,642 ha in 2017, 849 ha in 2018, 349 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,877 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Saw where it started
    2,659 ha reached on 3 Mar
    1.5 %
  2. Kanpetlet
    1,020 ha reached on 3 Mar
    0.4 %

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)
8 Mar 33.5 °C 27 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
9 Mar 33.6 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
10 Mar 34.2 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Mar 35.6 °C 21 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Mar 36.2 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Mar after 36.6 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
14 Mar after 36.6 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
15 Mar after 36.8 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
16 Mar after 37.4 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
17 Mar after 35.4 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Mar after 35.4 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
19 Mar after 35.2 °C 24 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
20 Mar after 34.0 °C 27 % 44 km/h 0.7 mm High 32
21 Mar after 33.3 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Mar after 32.3 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Mar 2020
After · 19 Mar 2020

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 · 147Every 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 Myanmar (Burma) ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Saw fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 March 2020 and 12 March 2020: 5 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,662 hectares (36.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Saw (2,659 ha, 1.5 %); Kanpetlet (1,020 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.2 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 48 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 Myanmar (Burma) (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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

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 ADM3 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.