Pak Chom fire, 8 March 2026 Thailand
The fire started on 8 March 2026 in Pak Chom, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,221 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 142th largest in Loei Province since 2016 (of 192 with a page). Number 673 in Thailand in 2026, of 880.
- Burnt area
- 1,221ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 8 Mar 2026 – 12 Mar 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 0
- districts
- Started on
- 8 Mar
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 10
- in a single hotspot: 30 MW
- Danger at start
- 25
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 151MW
- 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: 2.1 mm on 21 Mar.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 619 ha in 2016, 277 ha in 2017, 582 ha in 2018, 540 ha in 2019, 375 ha in 2020, 115 ha in 2021, 494 ha in 2022, 1,152 ha in 2023, 393 ha in 2024, 189 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,216 ha that had burned before.
- 601 ha Pak Chom fire, March 2023 2,118 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 360 ha Pak Chom fire, March 2018 1,344 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 309 ha Pak Chom fire, April 2022 1,379 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 36 ha Pak Chom fire, April 2017 1,074 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 | 36.4 °C | 23 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 4 Mar | 33.9 °C | 45 % | 35 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 5 Mar | 30.5 °C | 54 % | 37 km/h | 0.8 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 6 Mar | 32.0 °C | 50 % | 28 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 7 Mar | 33.5 °C | 42 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 8 Mar | 33.5 °C | 43 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 9 Mar | 33.8 °C | 40 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 10 Mar | 31.7 °C | 45 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 11 Mar | 31.2 °C | 43 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 12 Mar | 31.5 °C | 43 % | 27 km/h | 2.3 mm | Low 8 |
| 13 Mar after | 29.0 °C | 47 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 14 Mar after | 29.6 °C | 47 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 15 Mar after | 32.4 °C | 42 % | 27 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 16 Mar after | 32.6 °C | 40 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 17 Mar after | 33.7 °C | 41 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 18 Mar after | 35.2 °C | 37 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 19 Mar after | 36.7 °C | 30 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 20 Mar after | 36.0 °C | 34 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 21 Mar after | 36.0 °C | 38 % | 26 km/h | 2.1 mm | Moderate 14 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 11 March 2026 the air beside the fire reached 52 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 36: 2.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 10Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Pak Chom fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 March 2026 and 12 March 2026: 5 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 1,221 hectares (12.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, 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.