Gangaw fire, February 2026 Matupi, Gangaw, Tilin
The fire started on 9 February 2026 in Gangaw, Myanmar, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,264 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 87th largest in Magway since 2016 (of 190 with a page). Number 221 in Myanmar in 2026, of 480.
The power measured by the satellite is low (13.3 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Compare with…
Suggestions: Gangaw · 2023Tilin · 2024Tilin · 2019Matupi · 2022
- Burnt area
- 3,264ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 18days
- 9 Feb 2026 – 26 Feb 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 9 Feb
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 105
- in a single hotspot: 13 MW
- Danger at start
- 16
- Moderate · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 20MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 26 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
98% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,971 ha in 2016, 1,479 ha in 2017, 2,262 ha in 2019, 1,986 ha in 2020, 228 ha in 2021, 2,052 ha in 2022, 2,399 ha in 2023, 2,323 ha in 2024, 1,162 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,211 ha that had burned before.
- 2,399 ha Gangaw fire, January 2023 13,643 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,323 ha Tilin fire, February 2024 13,183 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,236 ha Tilin fire, February 2019 11,583 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,052 ha Matupi fire, February 2022 2,515 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,971 ha Gangaw fire, February 2016 4,326 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,424 ha Tilin fire, February 2017 3,544 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 54 ha Tilin fire, February 2017 2,001 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5 ha Gangaw fire, February 2019 3,150 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
1,916 ha reached on 11 Feb0.3 %
-
Gangaw where it started1,347 ha reached on 12 Feb0.5 %
-
17 ha reached on 9 Feb0.0 %
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 2025Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Feb | 29.2 °C | 43 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 13 Feb | 29.1 °C | 43 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 14 Feb | 29.8 °C | 36 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 15 Feb | 29.8 °C | 43 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 16 Feb | 29.7 °C | 40 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 17 Feb | 29.7 °C | 42 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 18 Feb | 30.9 °C | 39 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 19 Feb | 31.5 °C | 41 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 20 Feb | 32.1 °C | 47 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 21 Feb | 32.9 °C | 35 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 22 Feb | 31.8 °C | 32 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 23 Feb | 30.7 °C | 36 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 24 Feb | 29.8 °C | 40 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 25 Feb | 30.5 °C | 38 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 26 Feb | 29.9 °C | 39 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 27 Feb after | 29.6 °C | 42 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 28 Feb after | 31.5 °C | 35 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 1 Mar after | 31.8 °C | 30 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 2 Mar after | 31.0 °C | 37 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · CopernicusOn 23 February 2026 the air beside the fire reached 40 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 30: 2.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 105Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 13,183 haTilinFebruary 2024 · 24 days · 11 km away
- 11,583 haTilinFebruary 2019 · 22 days · 11 km away
- 13,643 haGangawJanuary 2023 · 24 days · 13 km away
- 12,588 haHakha15 February 2021 · 23 days · 22 km away
- 11,026 haHakha14 February 2026 · 22 days · 30 km away
- 12,329 haHakha4 April 2023 · 25 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Gangaw fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 9 February 2026 to 26 February 2026 (18 days). The perimeter dates it from 12 February 2026 to 20 February 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,264 hectares (32.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Matupi (1,916 ha, 0.3 %); Gangaw (1,347 ha, 0.5 %); Tilin (17 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.1 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 27 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 19, class Moderate.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Myanmar (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.
- Last day with fire: 20 February 2026 → 26 February 2026.
- Start date: 12 February 2026 → 9 February 2026.
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
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 12 February 2026 to 20 February 2026. 105 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 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.