Ban Phaeng fire, April 2024 Thailand
The fire started on 2 April 2024 in Ban Phaeng, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,086 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 15th largest in Nakhon Phanom Province since 2016 (of 19 with a page). Number 307 in Thailand in 2024, of 350.
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
- 1,086ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 2 Apr 2024 – 7 Apr 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 0
- districts
- Started on
- 2 Apr
- 2024
- Danger at start
- 18
- Moderate · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 9 Apr.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 709 ha in 2016, 221 ha in 2018, 320 ha in 2019, 157 ha in 2020, 864 ha in 2021, 1,324 ha in 2022, 2,575 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,092 ha that had burned before.
- 871 ha Ban Phaeng fire, March 2023 1,988 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 672 ha Ban Phaeng fire, March 2022 1,176 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 564 ha Ban Phaeng fire, March 2023 2,008 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 128 ha Ban Phaeng fire, February 2022 1,052 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Apr | 36.4 °C | 42 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 3 Apr | 36.9 °C | 43 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 4 Apr | 36.5 °C | 49 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 5 Apr | 36.9 °C | 47 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 6 Apr | 37.2 °C | 46 % | 27 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 7 Apr | 37.2 °C | 47 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 8 Apr after | 37.7 °C | 50 % | 20 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 9 Apr after | 34.5 °C | 58 % | 26 km/h | 1.1 mm | Low 11 |
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 7 April 2024 the air beside the fire reached 94 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 66: 4.4 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)
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ban Phaeng fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 April 2024 and 7 April 2024: 6 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 1,086 hectares (10.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.2 °C, humidity dropped to 42 % and gusts hit 34 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 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
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.