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Saw fire, 24 February 2026 Kanpetlet, Sidoktaya, Saw

Out · last detection 15 Apr 2026, 20:23 UTC

The fire started on 24 February 2026 in Saw, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 51 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 99,370 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

It is the largest fire in Magway since 2016 (of 189 with a page). The largest in Myanmar (Burma) in 2026, of 418.

Burnt area
99,370ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
51days
24 Feb 2026 – 15 Apr 2026
Municipalities hit
4
municipalities
Started on
24 Feb
2026
Heat detections
3,155
in a single hotspot: 211 MW
Danger at start
30
High · FWI index
Energy released
25.5GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

15 Apr 2026
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 24 Feb15 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

242526272812345678913141516171819202122232425262728293031123456789101112131415

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

The weather it burned in

41°high
48km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.1 mm on 25 Apr.

This area had burned before

94% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 30,623 ha in 2016, 35,225 ha in 2017, 14,076 ha in 2018, 40,586 ha in 2019, 48,063 ha in 2020, 45,766 ha in 2021, 23,600 ha in 2022, 44,616 ha in 2023, 36,372 ha in 2024, 33,013 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 93,186 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Kanpetlet
    55,783 ha reached on 27 Feb
    22 %
  2. Sidoktaya
    25,901 ha reached on 19 Feb
    9.2 %
  3. Saw where it started
    15,753 ha reached on 21 Feb
    8.8 %
  4. Salin
    2,447 ha reached on 24 Feb
    1.0 %

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)
19 Feb 34.5 °C 32 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
20 Feb 35.2 °C 35 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
21 Feb 36.1 °C 27 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
22 Feb 34.3 °C 29 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
23 Feb 33.2 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
24 Feb 32.5 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 Feb 33.5 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
26 Feb 31.7 °C 38 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
27 Feb 33.7 °C 21 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
28 Feb 34.1 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
1 Mar 33.3 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
2 Mar 35.1 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
3 Mar 35.7 °C 26 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
4 Mar 33.2 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
5 Mar 33.8 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
6 Mar 34.4 °C 32 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
7 Mar 36.1 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
8 Mar 37.3 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
9 Mar 37.9 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
10 Mar 37.7 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
11 Mar 36.5 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 40
12 Mar 35.5 °C 30 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Mar 34.0 °C 28 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Mar 35.0 °C 28 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
15 Mar 36.7 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
16 Mar 36.0 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
17 Mar 36.2 °C 21 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
18 Mar 37.2 °C 22 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
19 Mar 36.5 °C 24 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
20 Mar 35.9 °C 30 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 Mar 33.4 °C 32 % 30 km/h 1.4 mm High 23
22 Mar 34.8 °C 26 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Mar 36.1 °C 22 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
24 Mar 35.7 °C 25 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
25 Mar 37.0 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
26 Mar 37.2 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 Mar 38.0 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
28 Mar 38.2 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
29 Mar 36.1 °C 27 % 48 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 46
30 Mar 38.4 °C 26 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
31 Mar 39.0 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Apr 39.7 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
2 Apr 40.9 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
3 Apr 40.0 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
4 Apr 40.0 °C 26 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
5 Apr 39.1 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 Apr 37.0 °C 33 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm High 37
7 Apr 37.2 °C 24 % 24 km/h 0.9 mm High 34
8 Apr 35.6 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
9 Apr 34.7 °C 36 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
10 Apr 38.8 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
11 Apr 38.2 °C 20 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
12 Apr 39.1 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
13 Apr 39.5 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Apr 39.8 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
15 Apr 40.5 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
16 Apr after 38.8 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
17 Apr after 40.0 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
18 Apr after 40.4 °C 28 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
19 Apr after 40.4 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
20 Apr after 40.2 °C 26 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
21 Apr after 39.9 °C 29 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 47
22 Apr after 41.3 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 45
23 Apr after 40.6 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Apr after 40.7 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
25 Apr after 39.2 °C 37 % 30 km/h 3.1 mm Moderate 18

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 17 Feb 2026
After · 22 Apr 2026

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 · Copernicus

On 29 March 2026 the air beside the fire reached 87 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 65: 4.3 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak87 µg/m³
Days over the guideline55 days
PM10105 µg/m³
Optical depth2.05
2223242526272812345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031123456789101112131415161718
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 3,155Every 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 24 February 2026 and 15 April 2026: 51 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 99,370 hectares (993.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 4 municipalities: Kanpetlet (55,783 ha, 22 %); Sidoktaya (25,901 ha, 9.2 %); Saw (15,753 ha, 8.8 %); Salin (2,447 ha, 1.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.3 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, class Very 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.

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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 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.