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TH · Thailand · –

Ban Rai fire, 12 February 2019 บ้านไร่ · Ban Rai, Thong Pha Phum, Si Sawat

Out · last detection 24 Mar 2019, 19:32 UTC

The fire started on 12 February 2019 in Ban Rai, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 40 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 64,257 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.

It is the 2th largest in Uthai Thani Province since 2016 (of 65 with a page). Number 2 in Thailand in 2019, of 385.

Burnt area
64,257ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
40days
12 Feb 2019 – 23 Mar 2019
Municipalities hit
4
districts
Started on
12 Feb
2019
Heat detections
3,466
in a single hotspot: 395 MW
Danger at start
1
Very low · FWI index
Average daily power
479MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Feb23 Mar
24 Mar 2019

How it evolved, day by day

12 Feb 2019 · 45 MW · 14 13 Feb 2019 · 6 MW · 5 14 Feb 2019 · 4 MW · 1 15 Feb 2019 · 10 MW · 3 16 Feb 2019 · 130 MW · 28 17 Feb 2019 · 48 MW · 15 18 Feb 2019 · 47 MW · 12 19 Feb 2019 · 66 MW · 16 20 Feb 2019 · 230 MW · 37 21 Feb 2019 · 223 MW · 40 22 Feb 2019 · 288 MW · 93 23 Feb 2019 · 343 MW · 106 24 Feb 2019 · 632 MW · 108 25 Feb 2019 · 313 MW · 58 26 Feb 2019 · 202 MW · 54 27 Feb 2019 · 145 MW · 59 28 Feb 2019 · 116 MW · 45 1 Mar 2019 · 159 MW · 45 2 Mar 2019 · 388 MW · 72 3 Mar 2019 · 848 MW · 140 4 Mar 2019 · 2,070 MW · 228 5 Mar 2019 · 731 MW · 176 6 Mar 2019 · 655 MW · 131 7 Mar 2019 · 241 MW · 55 8 Mar 2019 · 284 MW · 93 9 Mar 2019 · 1,617 MW · 266 10 Mar 2019 · 1,527 MW · 316 11 Mar 2019 · 1,091 MW · 350 12 Mar 2019 · 2,209 MW · 245 13 Mar 2019 · 1,478 MW · 204 14 Mar 2019 · 1,682 MW · 276 15 Mar 2019 · 249 MW · 76 16 Mar 2019 · 31 MW · 15 19 Mar 2019 · 9 MW · 2 20 Mar 2019 · 15 MW · 9 21 Mar 2019 · 50 MW · 24 22 Mar 2019 · 42 MW · 11 23 Mar 2019 · 30 MW · 5 24 Mar 2019 · 438 MW · 33
12 Feb 20 Feb 28 Feb 12 Mar

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

33°high
44km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.0 mm on 26 Mar.

This area had burned before

76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 47,571 ha in 2016, 4,455 ha in 2017, 308 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 48,805 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 41% of the area of London (643 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Ban Rai บ้านไร่ where it started
    54,558 ha reached on 12 Feb
    16 %
  2. Thong Pha Phum ทองผาภูมิ
    8,429 ha reached on 12 Feb
    2.2 %
  3. Si Sawat ศรีสวัสดิ์
    1,722 ha reached on 12 Feb
    0.6 %
  4. Umphang อุ้มผาง
    10 ha
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area0.20 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.20 hectares of built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
12 Feb 26.9 °C 75 % 29 km/h 5.4 mm Very low 1
13 Feb 28.5 °C 60 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 2
14 Feb 28.8 °C 57 % 20 km/h 2.0 mm Low 6
15 Feb 27.9 °C 68 % 25 km/h 4.3 mm Very low 2
16 Feb 28.2 °C 66 % 22 km/h 5.9 mm Very low 1
17 Feb 27.4 °C 61 % 44 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 1
18 Feb 28.3 °C 49 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
19 Feb 29.7 °C 44 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
20 Feb 30.4 °C 43 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
21 Feb 30.8 °C 44 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
22 Feb 30.9 °C 41 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
23 Feb 31.1 °C 38 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
24 Feb 31.7 °C 34 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
25 Feb 31.9 °C 43 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
26 Feb 31.1 °C 35 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
27 Feb 28.6 °C 54 % 16 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 14
28 Feb 28.8 °C 54 % 19 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 14
1 Mar 31.3 °C 43 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
2 Mar 31.7 °C 43 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
3 Mar 30.5 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
4 Mar 29.8 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
5 Mar 29.7 °C 33 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
6 Mar 32.0 °C 29 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
7 Mar 31.9 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
8 Mar 31.8 °C 36 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
9 Mar 30.9 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
10 Mar 30.8 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Mar 32.0 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Mar 31.4 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
13 Mar 32.2 °C 28 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
14 Mar 32.2 °C 30 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
15 Mar 32.9 °C 35 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm High 31
16 Mar 28.9 °C 54 % 22 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
17 Mar 30.7 °C 51 % 25 km/h 5.2 mm High 25
18 Mar 30.7 °C 53 % 20 km/h 6.3 mm Very low 3
19 Mar 30.8 °C 52 % 22 km/h 5.7 mm Very low 2
20 Mar 30.4 °C 48 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
21 Mar 31.9 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
22 Mar 32.5 °C 32 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
23 Mar 33.4 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
24 Mar after 34.1 °C 34 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
25 Mar after 30.7 °C 44 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 21
26 Mar after 29.6 °C 58 % 34 km/h 3.0 mm Moderate 20

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 0.8, a minimum humidity of 75% and rain the day before. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 1.

FWI at the start 0.8
Minimum humidity 75 %
Days without rain 0
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Si Sawat fire, January 2020
2,031 ha 8 days FWI 3.9 Min. humidity 61 % 83 km away, in 2020

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

What happened to them

Fires in the area that started in similar weather: 1. With fewer than 15 we give no figures: they would be more noise than signal.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

3.0 mmfirst rain
26 Mar3 days after it ended
44km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 23 Mar, and on 26 Mar 3.0 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Feb 2019
After · 30 Mar 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 · 3,466Every 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 Thailand

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ban Rai fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 12 February 2019 to 23 March 2019 (40 days). The perimeter dates it from 19 February 2019 to 16 March 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 64,257 hectares (642.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 4 municipalities: Ban Rai (54,558 ha, 16 %); Thong Pha Phum (8,429 ha, 2.2 %); Si Sawat (1,722 ha, 0.6 %); Umphang (10 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.4 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, 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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 16 March 2019 → 23 March 2019.
  2. Start date: 19 February 2019 → 12 February 2019.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 6 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 19 February 2019 to 16 March 2019. 3,466 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.