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Pak Khat fire, 12 April 2023 Thailand

Out · last measured on 22 Apr 2023

The fire started on 12 April 2023 in Pak Khat, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,524 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 17th largest in Bueng Kan Province since 2016 (of 32 with a page). Number 260 in Thailand in 2023, of 500.

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
1,524ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
11days
12 Apr 2023 – 22 Apr 2023
Municipalities hit
0
districts
Started on
12 Apr
2023
Danger at start
18
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

38°high
35km/h · peak gust
42%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 23 Apr.

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)
12 Apr 37.2 °C 45 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
13 Apr 34.7 °C 58 % 26 km/h 0.9 mm Low 11
14 Apr 36.5 °C 53 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
15 Apr 36.2 °C 49 % 25 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 16
16 Apr 32.5 °C 61 % 32 km/h 1.7 mm Low 7
17 Apr 34.6 °C 57 % 35 km/h 0.9 mm Low 11
18 Apr 37.7 °C 42 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
19 Apr 37.3 °C 46 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 21
20 Apr 36.9 °C 44 % 33 km/h 2.4 mm Low 11
21 Apr 35.4 °C 54 % 34 km/h 2.4 mm Low 7
22 Apr 36.6 °C 42 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
23 Apr after 35.3 °C 50 % 30 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 12

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Apr 2023
After · 29 Apr 2023

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 · Copernicus

On 15 April 2023 the air beside the fire reached 112 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 70: 4.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak112 µg/m³
Days over the guideline16 days
PM10161 µg/m³
Optical depth2.34
10111213141516171819202122232425
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Thailand ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Pak Khat fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 April 2023 and 22 April 2023: 11 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 1,524 hectares (15.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 42 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 21, 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.