Pak Chom fire, March 2022 Thailand
The fire started on 3 March 2022 in Pak Chom, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,055 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 179th largest in Loei Province since 2016 (of 192 with a page). Number 47 in Thailand in 2022, of 58.
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
- 1,055ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 3 Mar 2022 – 6 Mar 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 0
- districts
- Started on
- 3 Mar
- 2022
- Danger at start
- 8
- Low · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 15.5 mm on 7 Mar.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 485 ha in 2016, 534 ha in 2017, 507 ha in 2018, 1,408 ha in 2019, 1,102 ha in 2020, 1,944 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,061 ha that had burned before.
- 862 ha Pak Chom fire, February 2021 1,097 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 762 ha Pak Chom fire, February 2020 1,213 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 338 ha Pak Chom fire, March 2021 1,630 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 170 ha Pak Chom fire, March 2020 1,125 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 103 ha Pak Chom fire, March 2018 2,892 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 80 ha Pak Chom fire, March 2020 10,355 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Mar | 33.8 °C | 46 % | 14 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 8 |
| 4 Mar | 35.3 °C | 45 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 5 Mar | 36.0 °C | 43 % | 20 km/h | 0.5 mm | Low 9 |
| 6 Mar | 35.3 °C | 49 % | 20 km/h | 0.6 mm | Low 8 |
| 7 Mar after | 30.3 °C | 63 % | 33 km/h | 15.5 mm | Very low 0 |
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.
Other fires nearby
- 10,355 haPak Chom28 March 2020 · 8 days · 8 km away
- 37,269 haPak Chom8 April 2026 · 15 days · 28 km away
- 14,160 haSangkhom19 March 2023 · 10 days · 29 km away
- 24,427 haSangkhom1 April 2026 · 18 days · 32 km away
- 16,393 haHinherbMarch 2023 · 23 days · 32 km away
- 10,255 haMad27 March 2020 · 17 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Pak Chom fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 March 2022 and 6 March 2022: 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 1,055 hectares (10.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.0 °C, humidity dropped to 43 % and gusts hit 20 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 9, class Low.
- 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.