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Pak Chom fire, March 2016 Thailand

Out · last measured on 24 Mar 2016

The fire started on 18 March 2016 in Pak Chom, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,298 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 125th largest in Loei Province since 2016 (of 192 with a page). Number 332 in Thailand in 2016, of 527.

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
1,298ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
18 Mar 2016 – 24 Mar 2016
Municipalities hit
0
districts
Started on
18 Mar
2016
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

38°high
41km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone 47 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.3 mm on 31 Mar.

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)
18 Mar 38.5 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
19 Mar 37.8 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
20 Mar 37.9 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
21 Mar 38.0 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
22 Mar 37.9 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
23 Mar 38.1 °C 25 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
24 Mar 37.3 °C 28 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
25 Mar after 28.3 °C 45 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Mar after 30.1 °C 44 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
27 Mar after 28.9 °C 45 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
28 Mar after 30.6 °C 42 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
29 Mar after 31.9 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
30 Mar after 33.6 °C 42 % 24 km/h 0.2 mm High 22
31 Mar after 34.0 °C 43 % 24 km/h 3.3 mm Low 7

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 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.

Other fires nearby

All fires in Thailand ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Pak Chom fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 March 2016 and 24 March 2016: 7 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 1,298 hectares (13.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.5 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, class Very 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.