Dan Sai fire, March 2020 Dan Sai, Lom Kao
The fire started on 11 March 2020 in Dan Sai, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,629 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 25th largest in Loei Province since 2016 (of 192 with a page). Number 101 in Thailand in 2020, of 666.
The power measured by the satellite is low (21.0 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
- 3,629ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 11 Mar 2020 – 14 Mar 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 11 Mar
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 125
- in a single hotspot: 21 MW
- Danger at start
- 28
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 746MW
- 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 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.3 mm on 16 Mar.
This area had burned before
86% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,670 ha in 2016, 1,071 ha in 2017, 1,062 ha in 2018, 2,474 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,135 ha that had burned before.
- 1,631 ha Dan Sai fire, March 2019 3,137 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 807 ha Dan Sai fire, March 2018 1,442 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 764 ha Dan Sai fire, April 2017 2,593 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 89 ha Dan Sai fire, March 2016 6,404 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 17 ha Dan Sai fire, April 2016 1,295 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Dan Sai where it started3,639 ha reached on 11 Mar2.6 %
-
9 ha reached on 13 Mar0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Mar | 35.2 °C | 34 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 11 Mar | 34.9 °C | 37 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 12 Mar | 35.5 °C | 35 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 13 Mar | 36.2 °C | 36 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 14 Mar | 37.1 °C | 35 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 15 Mar after | 30.4 °C | 59 % | 27 km/h | 0.5 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 16 Mar after | 32.6 °C | 51 % | 30 km/h | 2.3 mm | Low 8 |
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 · 125Every 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 Dan Sai fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 March 2020 and 14 March 2020: 4 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 3,629 hectares (36.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Dan Sai (3,639 ha, 2.6 %); Lom Kao (9 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.1 °C, humidity dropped to 34 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, 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
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.