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KH · Cambodia · –

Thala Barivat fire, 19 January 2019 Thala Barivat, Siem Bouk

Out · last detection 1 Feb 2019, 18:49 UTC

The fire started on 19 January 2019 in Thala Barivat, Cambodia, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,010 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 102th largest in Stung Treng since 2016 (of 102 with a page). Number 65 in Cambodia in 2019, of 65.

The power measured by the satellite is low (22.0 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
2,010ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
15days
19 Jan 2019 – 2 Feb 2019
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
19 Jan
2019
Heat detections
108
in a single hotspot: 22 MW
Danger at start
41
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
48MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Jan2 Feb
1 Feb 2019

How it evolved, day by day

19 Jan 2019 · 4 MW · 1 20 Jan 2019 · 17 MW · 2 22 Jan 2019 · 5 MW · 5 23 Jan 2019 · 4 MW · 5 24 Jan 2019 · 125 MW · 15 25 Jan 2019 · 58 MW · 10 26 Jan 2019 · 116 MW · 16 27 Jan 2019 · 106 MW · 25 28 Jan 2019 · 149 MW · 19 29 Jan 2019 · 1 MW · 1 30 Jan 2019 · 2 MW · 1 31 Jan 2019 · 18 MW · 3 1 Feb 2019 · 23 MW · 5
19 Jan 23 Jan 28 Jan 1 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

36°high
39km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

64% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,420 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,279 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.3% of the area of London (20 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. Thala Barivat where it started
    1,611 ha reached on 19 Jan
    0.6 %
  2. 410 ha reached on 26 Jan
    0.3 %

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.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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 Jan 35.4 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Jan 35.7 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 Jan 35.1 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
22 Jan 35.2 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 Jan 33.8 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
24 Jan 34.0 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
25 Jan 34.0 °C 27 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Jan 33.8 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
27 Jan 33.9 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
28 Jan 34.3 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Jan 35.2 °C 30 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 Jan 36.1 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
31 Jan 34.9 °C 32 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
1 Feb 35.6 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
2 Feb 36.2 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
3 Feb after 37.4 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Feb after 37.2 °C 34 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Feb after 36.8 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
6 Feb after 36.7 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Feb after 38.0 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
8 Feb after 38.8 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
9 Feb after 38.8 °C 29 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
10 Feb after 38.0 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 Feb after 38.3 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
12 Feb after 36.0 °C 31 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 40.7, a minimum humidity of 28% and 22 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 15.

FWI at the start 40.7
Minimum humidity 28 %
Days without rain 22
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Sesan fire, February 2017
2,361 ha 25 days FWI 41.0 Min. humidity 30 % 77 km away, in 2017

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 6.3 mm on 15 Mar.

What happened to them

19 days
median duration
2,922 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
3.8 mm
rain at the end (median; 9 of 15 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (2,010 ha against a median of 2,922 ha) and lasted 15 days, against 19 days.

In 6 of 15, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.8 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
39km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 2 Feb, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 9 of 15, with a median of 3.8 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Jan 2019
After · 9 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 · 108Every 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 Thala Barivat fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 19 January 2019 to 2 February 2019 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 January 2019 to 1 February 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,010 hectares (20.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Thala Barivat (1,611 ha, 0.6 %); Siem Bouk (410 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.2 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 47, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 15. Their median duration was 19 days and their median area 2,922 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 6 of 15, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.8 mm.

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: 1 February 2019 → 2 February 2019.
  2. Start date: 22 January 2019 → 19 January 2019.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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 22 January 2019 to 1 February 2019. 108 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.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

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.