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Xay fire, April 2019 Xay, Namor

Out · last detection 21 Apr 2019, 06:36 UTC

The fire started on 8 April 2019 in Xay, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,809 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 140th largest in Oudomxay since 2016 (of 241 with a page). Number 60 in Laos in 2019, of 117.

Burnt area
2,809ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
14days
8 Apr 2019 – 21 Apr 2019
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
8 Apr
2019
Heat detections
79
in a single hotspot: 310 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Energy released
3.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

21 Apr 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Apr21 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

91011121314151617192021

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
49km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

92% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,197 ha in 2016, 1,077 ha in 2017, 1,380 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,583 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Xay where it started
    2,083 ha reached on 9 Apr
    1.0 %
  2. Namor
    739 ha reached on 10 Apr
    0.4 %

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)
8 Apr 34.0 °C 28 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
9 Apr 34.6 °C 30 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
10 Apr 35.1 °C 28 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
11 Apr 35.2 °C 25 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Apr 35.8 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
13 Apr 36.1 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Apr 35.9 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
15 Apr 35.0 °C 37 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Apr 36.7 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Apr 36.5 °C 31 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Apr 37.2 °C 25 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
19 Apr 37.6 °C 24 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
20 Apr 37.7 °C 21 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Apr 37.1 °C 27 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
22 Apr after 36.5 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 39
23 Apr after 36.6 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm High 37
24 Apr after 35.5 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm High 37
25 Apr after 36.7 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Apr after 36.6 °C 26 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Apr after 33.0 °C 39 % 43 km/h 0.2 mm High 33
28 Apr after 34.3 °C 33 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
29 Apr after 35.2 °C 35 % 45 km/h 0.2 mm High 36
30 Apr after 35.8 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
1 May after 36.8 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 38

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Apr 2019
After · 28 Apr 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 · 79Every 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 Laos ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Xay fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 8 April 2019 to 21 April 2019 (14 days). The perimeter dates it from 8 April 2019 to 19 April 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,809 hectares (28.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Xay (2,083 ha, 1.0 %); Namor (739 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Laos (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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.