Xaythany fire, March 2023 Mayparkngum, Xaythany
The fire started on 16 March 2023 in Xaythany, Laos, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,942 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
Number 106 in Laos in 2023, of 214.
The power measured by the satellite is low (21.8 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
- 2,942ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 12days
- 16 Mar 2023 – 27 Mar 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 16 Mar
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 117
- in a single hotspot: 22 MW
- Danger at start
- 23
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 489MW
- 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 40 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.8 mm on 29 Mar.
This area had burned before
12% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 29 ha in 2017, 207 ha in 2019, 137 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 346 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
1,880 ha reached on 20 Mar2.9 %
-
Xaythany where it started1,081 ha reached on 16 Mar1.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Mar | 31.6 °C | 40 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 17 Mar | 33.6 °C | 36 % | 24 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 23 |
| 18 Mar | 35.1 °C | 35 % | 25 km/h | 2.2 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 19 Mar | 35.0 °C | 37 % | 29 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 20 Mar | 36.8 °C | 32 % | 32 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 27 |
| 21 Mar | 37.4 °C | 30 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 22 Mar | 38.2 °C | 23 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 23 Mar | 37.7 °C | 23 % | 39 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 38 |
| 24 Mar | 38.0 °C | 24 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 25 Mar | 38.4 °C | 23 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 26 Mar | 37.0 °C | 25 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 27 Mar | 35.1 °C | 39 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 28 Mar after | 33.0 °C | 44 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 29 Mar after | 31.2 °C | 54 % | 31 km/h | 1.8 mm | Low 10 |
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 · 117Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Xaythany fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 16 March 2023 to 27 March 2023 (12 days). The perimeter dates it from 21 March 2023 to 27 March 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,942 hectares (29.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mayparkngum (1,880 ha, 2.9 %); Xaythany (1,081 ha, 1.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.4 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class 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.
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 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.