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Hang Chat fire, 19 March 2017 Hang Chat, Mueang Lampang

Out · last detection 24 Mar 2017, 19:19 UTC

The fire started on 19 March 2017 in Hang Chat, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,141 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 158th largest in Lampang Province since 2016 (of 202 with a page). Number 189 in Thailand in 2017, of 240.

The power measured by the satellite is low (8.3 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
1,141ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
19 Mar 2017 – 23 Mar 2017
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
19 Mar
2017
Heat detections
37
in a single hotspot: 8 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Energy released
78MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Mar 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Mar23 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

192021222324

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
35km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.6 mm on 27 Mar.

This area had burned before

6% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 64 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Hang Chat where it started
    1,098 ha reached on 15 Mar
    1.8 %
  2. Mueang Lampang
    49 ha reached on 22 Mar
    0.0 %

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)
15 Mar 36.6 °C 21 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Mar 36.8 °C 27 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
17 Mar 35.4 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
18 Mar 35.9 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
19 Mar 36.3 °C 25 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
20 Mar 36.2 °C 28 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
21 Mar 35.3 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
22 Mar 34.8 °C 25 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
23 Mar 35.8 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Mar after 37.1 °C 30 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Mar after 37.0 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
26 Mar after 37.4 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 Mar after 30.8 °C 56 % 40 km/h 6.6 mm Low 5

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Mar 2017
After · 30 Mar 2017

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 · 37Every 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 Hang Chat fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 March 2017 and 23 March 2017: 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 1,141 hectares (11.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Hang Chat (1,098 ha, 1.8 %); Mueang Lampang (49 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class Very 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.