Khlong Lan fire, 6 March 2019 Khlong Lan
The fire started on 6 March 2019 in Khlong Lan, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,091 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 60th largest in Kamphaeng Phet Province since 2016 (of 66 with a page). Number 431 in Thailand in 2019, of 503.
The power measured by the satellite is low (8.4 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
- 1,091ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 6 Mar 2019 – 11 Mar 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 6 Mar
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 39
- in a single hotspot: 8 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 95MW
- 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 17 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.3 mm on 18 Mar.
This area had burned before
62% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 543 ha in 2016, 220 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 681 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Khlong Lan where it started1,098 ha reached on 6 Mar0.8 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Mar | 32.3 °C | 26 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 7 Mar | 32.1 °C | 25 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 8 Mar | 31.5 °C | 33 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 9 Mar | 30.5 °C | 34 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 10 Mar | 30.3 °C | 36 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 11 Mar | 32.2 °C | 22 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 12 Mar after | 32.1 °C | 21 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 13 Mar after | 32.4 °C | 29 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 14 Mar after | 32.1 °C | 40 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 15 Mar after | 32.2 °C | 37 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 16 Mar after | 31.7 °C | 40 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 17 Mar after | 31.0 °C | 43 % | 18 km/h | 0.6 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 18 Mar after | 30.6 °C | 47 % | 17 km/h | 2.3 mm | Low 6 |
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 · 39Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 50,877 haWang ChaoMarch 2026 · 33 days · 18 km away
- 26,711 haUmphangFebruary 2021 · 38 days · 31 km away
- 29,428 haUmphangFebruary 2026 · 15 days · 32 km away
- 19,313 haMae Wong23 March 2023 · 30 days · 32 km away
- 16,349 haPhop Phra1 March 2017 · 31 days · 34 km away
- 16,730 haUmphang11 March 2016 · 16 days · 35 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Khlong Lan fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 March 2019 and 11 March 2019: 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 1,091 hectares (10.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Khlong Lan (1,098 ha, 0.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.3 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, 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.