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Mae Sai fire, March 2016 Thailand

Out · last detection 22 Mar 2016, 06:31 UTC

The fire started on 16 March 2016 in Mae Sai, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,548 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 160th largest in Chiang Rai Province since 2016 (of 303 with a page). Number 248 in Thailand in 2016, of 527.

The power measured by the satellite is low (9.6 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
1,548ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
16 Mar 2016 – 24 Mar 2016
Municipalities hit
0
districts
Started on
16 Mar
2016
Heat detections
4
in a single hotspot: 10 MW
Danger at start
22
High · FWI index
Energy released
11MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 Mar 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Mar24 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

1722

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

The weather it burned in

35°high
35km/h · peak gust
28%lowest humidity

It had gone 16 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.

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)
16 Mar 35.1 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
17 Mar 34.8 °C 30 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
18 Mar 33.9 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
19 Mar 34.0 °C 31 % 29 km/h 0.4 mm High 22
20 Mar 34.1 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
21 Mar 35.2 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
22 Mar 34.3 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
23 Mar 34.4 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
24 Mar 34.6 °C 29 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
25 Mar after 29.1 °C 47 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
26 Mar after 31.0 °C 43 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
27 Mar after 29.1 °C 56 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
28 Mar after 29.7 °C 49 % 29 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 17
29 Mar after 32.0 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
30 Mar after 32.2 °C 36 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
31 Mar after 34.6 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
1 Apr after 33.1 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
2 Apr after 32.9 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
3 Apr after 34.4 °C 29 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 26

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Mar 2016
After · 31 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 · 4Every 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 Mae Sai fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 March 2016 and 24 March 2016: 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 1,548 hectares (15.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.2 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 35 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
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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.