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Doi Saket fire, March 2016 Doi Saket, Mae Taeng, San Sai

Out · last detection 18 Mar 2016, 18:36 UTC

The fire started on 14 March 2016 in Doi Saket, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,180 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 346th largest in Chiang Mai Province since 2016 (of 463 with a page). Number 381 in Thailand in 2016, of 527.

Burnt area
1,180ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
14 Mar 2016 – 18 Mar 2016
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
14 Mar
2016
Heat detections
29
in a single hotspot: 34 MW
Danger at start
27
High · FWI index
Energy released
242MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Mar 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Mar18 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

1415161718

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
31km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 17 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Doi Saket where it started
    786 ha reached on 14 Mar
    1.2 %
  2. Mae Taeng
    319 ha reached on 15 Mar
    0.2 %
  3. San Sai
    82 ha reached on 15 Mar
    0.2 %

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)
14 Mar 36.9 °C 27 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
15 Mar 37.6 °C 26 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
16 Mar 37.4 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
17 Mar 38.1 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Mar 37.7 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Mar after 37.4 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.5 mm High 32
20 Mar after 37.4 °C 28 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
21 Mar after 38.5 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Mar after 37.8 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Mar after 37.8 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Mar after 36.7 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
25 Mar after 34.7 °C 38 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Mar after 33.6 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
27 Mar after 34.2 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Mar after 34.7 °C 33 % 29 km/h 0.1 mm High 30

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Mar 2016
After · 25 Mar 2016

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 · 29Every 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 Doi Saket fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 March 2016 and 18 March 2016: 5 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 1,180 hectares (11.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Doi Saket (786 ha, 1.2 %); Mae Taeng (319 ha, 0.2 %); San Sai (82 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 31 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, 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.