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Khlong Lan fire, 6 March 2020 Khlong Lan, Umphang

Out · last detection 14 Mar 2020, 18:16 UTC

The fire started on 6 March 2020 in Khlong Lan, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,813 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 10th largest in Kamphaeng Phet Province since 2016 (of 66 with a page). Number 88 in Thailand in 2020, of 666.

The power measured by the satellite is low (13.5 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
3,813ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
6 Mar 2020 – 14 Mar 2020
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
6 Mar
2020
Heat detections
153
in a single hotspot: 13 MW
Danger at start
16
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
534MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

14 Mar 2020
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Mar14 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

67891011121314

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
44km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 42 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.5 mm on 15 Mar.

This area had burned before

63% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,125 ha in 2016, 84 ha in 2017, 1,039 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,418 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Khlong Lan where it started
    3,681 ha reached on 4 Mar
    2.5 %
  2. Umphang
    154 ha reached on 10 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)
4 Mar 29.4 °C 45 % 24 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 16
5 Mar 30.1 °C 41 % 30 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 18
6 Mar 29.1 °C 41 % 36 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 20
7 Mar 31.5 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
8 Mar 32.4 °C 22 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
9 Mar 32.6 °C 28 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
10 Mar 33.0 °C 25 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
11 Mar 33.7 °C 23 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
12 Mar 33.8 °C 26 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
13 Mar 34.2 °C 28 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Mar 33.8 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
15 Mar after 29.4 °C 49 % 30 km/h 4.5 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 28 Feb 2020
After · 21 Mar 2020

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 · 153Every 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 Khlong Lan fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 March 2020 and 14 March 2020: 9 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 3,813 hectares (38.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Khlong Lan (3,681 ha, 2.5 %); Umphang (154 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.2 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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.