Li fire, February 2016 Sam Ngao, Li
The fire started on 12 February 2016 in Li, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,622 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 216th largest in Chiang Mai Province since 2016 (of 463 with a page). Number 227 in Thailand in 2016, of 527.
The power measured by the satellite is low (16.7 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
- 1,622ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 12 Feb 2016 – 16 Feb 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 12 Feb
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 53
- in a single hotspot: 17 MW
- Danger at start
- 15
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 176MW
- 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 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 24 Feb.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
1,059 ha reached on 12 Feb0.4 %
-
Li where it started571 ha reached on 12 Feb0.3 %
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 Feb | 29.2 °C | 52 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 7 Feb | 25.2 °C | 48 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 8 Feb | 25.5 °C | 34 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 9 Feb | 27.5 °C | 24 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 10 Feb | 30.3 °C | 26 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 11 Feb | 31.4 °C | 25 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 12 Feb | 32.3 °C | 19 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 13 Feb | 33.0 °C | 30 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 14 Feb | 33.4 °C | 30 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 15 Feb | 34.0 °C | 30 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 16 Feb | 34.2 °C | 30 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 17 Feb after | 33.6 °C | 37 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 18 Feb after | 34.2 °C | 34 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 19 Feb after | 34.3 °C | 30 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 20 Feb after | 34.5 °C | 30 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 21 Feb after | 33.2 °C | 36 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 22 Feb after | 33.3 °C | 38 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 23 Feb after | 34.6 °C | 33 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 24 Feb after | 32.2 °C | 45 % | 35 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
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 · 53Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 21,139 haSam Ngao6 February 2019 · 33 days · 8 km away
- 12,196 haSam Ngao1 March 2024 · 19 days · 9 km away
- 45,311 haSam Ngao21 March 2026 · 35 days · 13 km away
- 18,226 haSam Ngao13 March 2025 · 19 days · 14 km away
- 28,586 haLi20 March 2026 · 24 days · 22 km away
- 20,120 haLi23 March 2026 · 33 days · 28 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Li fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 February 2016 and 16 February 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 1,622 hectares (16.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Sam Ngao (1,059 ha, 0.4 %); Li (571 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.2 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, 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.