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Sesan fire, 30 December 2018 Sesan

Out · last detection 16 Feb 2019, 06:34 UTC

The fire started on 30 December 2018 in Sesan, Cambodia, and satellites saw it burning for 49 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,449 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

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.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 53th largest in Stung Treng since 2016 (of 130 with a page). Number 12 in Cambodia in 2018, of 28.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Sambour · 2016Sesan · 2017Kaoh Nheaek · 2018Sesan · 2021

Burnt area
3,449ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
49days
30 Dec 2018 – 16 Feb 2019
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
30 Dec
2018
Heat detections
426
in a single hotspot: 98 MW
Danger at start
29
High · FWI index
Average daily power
83MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 30 Dec16 Feb
16 Feb 2019

How it evolved, day by day

30 Dec 2018 · 0 MW · 1 1 Jan 2019 · 6 MW · 3 4 Jan 2019 · 46 MW · 7 5 Jan 2019 · 57 MW · 9 6 Jan 2019 · 37 MW · 14 7 Jan 2019 · 33 MW · 4 8 Jan 2019 · 65 MW · 11 9 Jan 2019 · 231 MW · 31 10 Jan 2019 · 324 MW · 18 11 Jan 2019 · 259 MW · 22 12 Jan 2019 · 196 MW · 29 13 Jan 2019 · 81 MW · 22 14 Jan 2019 · 437 MW · 28 15 Jan 2019 · 129 MW · 26 16 Jan 2019 · 6 MW · 8 17 Jan 2019 · 10 MW · 6 18 Jan 2019 · 66 MW · 8 19 Jan 2019 · 129 MW · 8 20 Jan 2019 · 7 MW · 1 21 Jan 2019 · 95 MW · 7 22 Jan 2019 · 99 MW · 12 23 Jan 2019 · 1 MW · 2 24 Jan 2019 · 105 MW · 14 25 Jan 2019 · 121 MW · 12 26 Jan 2019 · 128 MW · 5 27 Jan 2019 · 72 MW · 10 28 Jan 2019 · 2 MW · 3 29 Jan 2019 · 166 MW · 15 30 Jan 2019 · 52 MW · 8 31 Jan 2019 · 10 MW · 5 1 Feb 2019 · 2 MW · 1 2 Feb 2019 · 30 MW · 6 3 Feb 2019 · 29 MW · 7 4 Feb 2019 · 92 MW · 12 6 Feb 2019 · 38 MW · 5 7 Feb 2019 · 29 MW · 9 8 Feb 2019 · 233 MW · 15 9 Feb 2019 · 5 MW · 1 11 Feb 2019 · 8 MW · 3 12 Feb 2019 · 5 MW · 1 14 Feb 2019 · 74 MW · 7 15 Feb 2019 · 29 MW · 7 16 Feb 2019 · 18 MW · 3
30 Dec 9 Jan 14 Jan 16 Jan 23 Jan 30 Jan 7 Feb 16 Feb

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
53km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 18 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

27% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 852 ha in 2016, 73 ha in 2017.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 2.2% of the area of London (34 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Sesan where it started
    3,467 ha reached on 30 Dec
    1.3 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area 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 Jan 34.1 °C 41 % 53 km/h 0.3 mm High 29
5 Jan 36.7 °C 31 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
6 Jan 35.7 °C 38 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Jan 36.2 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
8 Jan 35.0 °C 36 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
9 Jan 35.5 °C 33 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
10 Jan 36.2 °C 31 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
11 Jan 36.3 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
12 Jan 35.8 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
13 Jan 36.5 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
14 Jan 35.8 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
15 Jan 35.7 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Jan 35.2 °C 35 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
17 Jan 34.8 °C 39 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
18 Jan 35.4 °C 28 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
19 Jan 35.2 °C 30 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
20 Jan 36.2 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
21 Jan 35.1 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Jan 35.2 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
23 Jan 33.7 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
24 Jan 33.8 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Jan 33.6 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
26 Jan 34.2 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
27 Jan 33.9 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
28 Jan 34.4 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
29 Jan 34.8 °C 31 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
30 Jan 35.8 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
31 Jan 35.1 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
1 Feb 35.3 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
2 Feb 36.1 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
3 Feb 37.3 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Feb 37.0 °C 34 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
5 Feb 36.3 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
6 Feb 36.3 °C 35 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
7 Feb 37.3 °C 33 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
8 Feb 38.4 °C 33 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
9 Feb 37.9 °C 32 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
10 Feb 38.3 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
11 Feb 38.5 °C 14 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
12 Feb 36.4 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
13 Feb 37.0 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
14 Feb 36.9 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
15 Feb 37.6 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
16 Feb 36.7 °C 28 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
17 Feb after 35.7 °C 33 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Feb after 36.4 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
19 Feb after 37.5 °C 32 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 23 Dec 2018
After · 23 Feb 2019

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 · 426Every 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 Cambodia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Sesan fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 30 December 2018 to 16 February 2019 (49 days). The perimeter dates it from 4 January 2019 to 9 February 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,449 hectares (34.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Sesan (3,467 ha, 1.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.4 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Cambodia (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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 9 February 2019 → 16 February 2019.
  2. Start date: 4 January 2019 → 30 December 2018.

RSS Changes to this page

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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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 4 January 2019 to 9 February 2019. 426 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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 4.0 International (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.