West Phaileng fire, March 2016 West Phaileng, West Bunghmun
The fire started on 12 March 2016 in West Phaileng, India, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,670 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 17th largest in Mizoram since 2016 (of 44 with a page). Number 22 in India in 2016, of 47.
- Burnt area
- 7,670ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 12 Mar 2016 – 15 Mar 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- subdistricts
- Started on
- 12 Mar
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 247
- in a single hotspot: 305 MW
- Danger at start
- 18
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 5.9GW
- sum of detected power
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 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.3 mm on 21 Mar.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
West Phaileng where it started7,671 ha reached on 11 Mar7.3 %
-
24 ha reached on 11 Mar0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Mar | 32.2 °C | 39 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 6 Mar | 33.1 °C | 41 % | 30 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 7 Mar | 33.0 °C | 39 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 8 Mar | 32.1 °C | 39 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 9 Mar | 32.1 °C | 46 % | 40 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 10 Mar | 31.8 °C | 51 % | 36 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 11 Mar | 33.2 °C | 42 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 12 Mar | 32.3 °C | 50 % | 30 km/h | 0.7 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 13 Mar | 33.8 °C | 38 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 14 Mar | 34.0 °C | 31 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 15 Mar | 33.8 °C | 29 % | 34 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 25 |
| 16 Mar after | 31.8 °C | 47 % | 38 km/h | 1.2 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 17 Mar after | 33.4 °C | 33 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 18 Mar after | 33.8 °C | 27 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 19 Mar after | 33.0 °C | 39 % | 35 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 26 |
| 20 Mar after | 34.0 °C | 39 % | 34 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 26 |
| 21 Mar after | 33.2 °C | 49 % | 37 km/h | 7.3 mm | Very low 4 |
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.
Detections table · 247Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 18,904 haWest PhailengApril 2026 · 11 days · 11 km away
- 7,274 haWest BunghmunMarch 2021 · 5 days · 19 km away
- 6,666 haWest BunghmunMarch 2025 · 9 days · 19 km away
- 21,867 haWest BunghmunMarch 2022 · 12 days · 20 km away
- 10,216 haWest PhailengApril 2023 · 10 days · 24 km away
- 6,528 haWest BunghmunApril 2026 · 9 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the West Phaileng fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 March 2016 and 15 March 2016: 4 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 7,670 hectares (76.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: West Phaileng (7,671 ha, 7.3 %); West Bunghmun (24 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.0 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 40 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 India (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.
Emergency number: 112
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.
Report an error
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 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.