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Tilin fire, February 2023 Tilin, Matupi

Out · last detection 14 Feb 2023, 07:23 UTC

The fire started on 6 February 2023 in Tilin, Myanmar (Burma), and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,588 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 41th largest in Magway since 2016 (of 189 with a page). Number 46 in Myanmar (Burma) in 2023, of 212.

The power measured by the satellite is low (19.3 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
4,588ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
6 Feb 2023 – 13 Feb 2023
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
6 Feb
2023
Heat detections
160
in a single hotspot: 19 MW
Danger at start
23
High · FWI index
Energy released
579MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

14 Feb 2023
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Feb13 Feb

How it evolved, day by day

67891011121314

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

The weather it burned in

32°high
30km/h · peak gust
26%lowest humidity

It had gone 37 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

96% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,415 ha in 2016, 984 ha in 2017, 3,678 ha in 2019, 560 ha in 2020, 352 ha in 2021, 2,003 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,394 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Tilin where it started
    3,512 ha reached on 5 Feb
    2.6 %
  2. Matupi
    1,103 ha reached on 6 Feb
    0.2 %

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)
6 Feb 31.2 °C 29 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
7 Feb 29.7 °C 26 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
8 Feb 29.0 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
9 Feb 29.7 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
10 Feb 30.0 °C 43 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
11 Feb 32.2 °C 29 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
12 Feb 32.3 °C 32 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
13 Feb 31.8 °C 30 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
14 Feb after 30.6 °C 42 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
15 Feb after 31.0 °C 38 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
16 Feb after 31.3 °C 33 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
17 Feb after 31.0 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
18 Feb after 31.6 °C 30 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
19 Feb after 30.9 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
20 Feb after 31.0 °C 40 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
21 Feb after 31.5 °C 44 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
22 Feb after 33.9 °C 39 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
23 Feb after 35.2 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 30 Jan 2023
After · 20 Feb 2023

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 · 160Every 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 Tilin fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 February 2023 and 13 February 2023: 8 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 4,588 hectares (45.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tilin (3,512 ha, 2.6 %); Matupi (1,103 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.3 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 30 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, 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.

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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.