Mae Wang fire, March 2018 Mae Wang
The fire started on 24 March 2018 in Mae Wang, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,273 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 311th largest in Chiang Mai Province since 2016 (of 463 with a page). Number 99 in Thailand in 2018, of 144.
The power measured by the satellite is low (11.3 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
- 1,273ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 24 Mar 2018 – 27 Mar 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 24 Mar
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 34
- in a single hotspot: 11 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 134MW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.5 mm on 31 Mar.
This area had burned before
65% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 326 ha in 2016, 828 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 828 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Mae Wang where it started1,279 ha reached on 24 Mar1.9 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Mar | 32.4 °C | 36 % | 28 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 19 Mar | 32.8 °C | 35 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 20 Mar | 32.6 °C | 35 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 21 Mar | 32.6 °C | 35 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 22 Mar | 31.6 °C | 41 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 23 Mar | 30.4 °C | 52 % | 27 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 24 Mar | 30.6 °C | 51 % | 27 km/h | 0.7 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 25 Mar | 32.2 °C | 39 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 26 Mar | 32.9 °C | 35 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 27 Mar | 32.5 °C | 35 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 28 Mar after | 32.4 °C | 38 % | 29 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 22 |
| 29 Mar after | 32.0 °C | 42 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 30 Mar after | 31.5 °C | 44 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 31 Mar after | 30.3 °C | 49 % | 28 km/h | 6.5 mm | Very low 3 |
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 · 34Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 9,276 haSamoeng22 March 2020 · 14 days · 18 km away
- 48,637 haSamoeng21 March 2026 · 31 days · 19 km away
- 12,979 haSamoengMarch 2016 · 17 days · 27 km away
- 9,213 haSamoeng20 March 2020 · 20 days · 28 km away
- 8,068 haMae Chaem27 March 2020 · 13 days · 34 km away
- 7,439 haMae Chaem23 March 2026 · 20 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mae Wang fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 24 March 2018 and 27 March 2018: 4 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 1,273 hectares (12.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mae Wang (1,279 ha, 1.9 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.9 °C, humidity dropped to 35 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 23, 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.