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Pak Chom fire, April 2018 Thailand

Out · last measured on 13 Apr 2018

The fire started on 8 April 2018 in Pak Chom, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,521 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 95th largest in Loei Province since 2016 (of 192 with a page). Number 72 in Thailand in 2018, of 144.

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
1,521ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
8 Apr 2018 – 13 Apr 2018
Municipalities hit
0
districts
Started on
8 Apr
2018
Danger at start
3
Very low · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

38°high
34km/h · peak gust
36%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 16.2 mm on 15 Apr.

This area had burned before

62% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 652 ha in 2016, 749 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 942 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)
8 Apr 29.0 °C 46 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
9 Apr 32.5 °C 42 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
10 Apr 35.6 °C 38 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
11 Apr 36.5 °C 40 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
12 Apr 36.9 °C 39 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 16
13 Apr 38.0 °C 36 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
14 Apr after 38.0 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
15 Apr after 33.5 °C 56 % 41 km/h 16.2 mm Very low 2

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Apr 2018
After · 20 Apr 2018

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 8 April 2018 and 13 April 2018: 6 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 1,521 hectares (15.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.0 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 18, class Moderate.
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.