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Pai fire, 22 January 2020 Thailand

Out · last measured on 24 Jan 2020

The fire started on 22 January 2020 in Pai, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,197 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 505th largest in Mae Hong Son Province since 2016 (of 668 with a page). Number 503 in Thailand in 2020, of 666.

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
1,197ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
3days
22 Jan 2020 – 24 Jan 2020
Municipalities hit
0
districts
Started on
22 Jan
2020
Danger at start
25
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

33°high
41km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 23 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

88% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 206 ha in 2016, 979 ha in 2017, 278 ha in 2018, 599 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,057 ha that had burned before.

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)
22 Jan 33.0 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
23 Jan 32.7 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
24 Jan 30.9 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Jan after 29.5 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Jan after 29.1 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Jan after 28.2 °C 21 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
28 Jan after 29.3 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
29 Jan after 29.7 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
30 Jan after 30.3 °C 29 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
31 Jan after 30.0 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
1 Feb after 32.2 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
2 Feb after 32.3 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
3 Feb after 31.8 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 15 Jan 2020
After · 31 Jan 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.

Other fires nearby

All fires in Thailand ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Pai fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 January 2020 and 24 January 2020: 3 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 1,197 hectares (12.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.0 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, 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.