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Ban Phaeng fire, 3 March 2023 Thailand

Out · last measured on 12 Mar 2023

The fire started on 3 March 2023 in Ban Phaeng, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,988 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 4th largest in Nakhon Phanom Province since 2016 (of 19 with a page). Number 154 in Thailand in 2023, of 500.

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
1,988ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
10days
3 Mar 2023 – 12 Mar 2023
Municipalities hit
0
districts
Started on
3 Mar
2023
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

33°high
34km/h · peak gust
37%lowest humidity

It had gone 26 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: 1,462 ha in 2016, 42 ha in 2017, 384 ha in 2018, 620 ha in 2019, 828 ha in 2020, 1,050 ha in 2021, 1,928 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,904 ha that had burned before.

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)
3 Mar 30.6 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
4 Mar 29.1 °C 44 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
5 Mar 30.1 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
6 Mar 31.1 °C 39 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
7 Mar 32.2 °C 41 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
8 Mar 32.4 °C 46 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
9 Mar 32.2 °C 42 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
10 Mar 31.5 °C 49 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
11 Mar 32.9 °C 47 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
12 Mar 31.0 °C 47 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
13 Mar after 26.9 °C 50 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
14 Mar after 30.2 °C 41 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
15 Mar after 33.1 °C 38 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
16 Mar after 32.9 °C 42 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
17 Mar after 33.7 °C 41 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
18 Mar after 35.4 °C 38 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
19 Mar after 35.5 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
20 Mar after 35.9 °C 41 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
21 Mar after 36.5 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Mar after 37.7 °C 34 % 43 km/h 0.1 mm High 33

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Feb 2023
After · 19 Mar 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.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 15 March 2023 the air beside the fire reached 185 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 107: 7.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak185 µg/m³
Days over the guideline15 days
PM10264 µg/m³
Optical depth2.02
123456789101112131415
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Thailand ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ban Phaeng fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 March 2023 and 12 March 2023: 10 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 1,988 hectares (19.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.9 °C, humidity dropped to 37 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Thailand (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: 199 · 191

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 199 · 191.

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.