Pak Khat fire, March 2026 Thailand
The fire started on 26 March 2026 in Pak Khat, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 23 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,840 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 4th largest in Bueng Kan Province since 2016 (of 32 with a page). Number 181 in Thailand in 2026, of 880.
- Burnt area
- 3,840ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 23days
- 26 Mar 2026 – 17 Apr 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 0
- districts
- Started on
- 26 Mar
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 162
- in a single hotspot: 33 MW
- Danger at start
- 8
- Low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 687MW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.1 mm on 18 Apr.
This area had burned before
66% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 32 ha in 2018, 68 ha in 2019, 437 ha in 2020, 5 ha in 2022, 3,080 ha in 2023, 155 ha in 2024, 87 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,525 ha that had burned before.
- 865 ha Pak Khat fire, April 2023 1,168 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 754 ha Pak Khat fire, March 2023 1,369 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 28 ha Pak Khat fire, April 2023 1,524 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Mar | 32.6 °C | 48 % | 27 km/h | 0.6 mm | Low 8 |
| 27 Mar | 33.1 °C | 42 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 28 Mar | 33.5 °C | 45 % | 31 km/h | 0.6 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 29 Mar | 32.4 °C | 44 % | 38 km/h | 2.1 mm | Low 6 |
| 30 Mar | 31.1 °C | 50 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 31 Mar | 32.9 °C | 40 % | 35 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 1 Apr | 32.1 °C | 44 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 2 Apr | 33.1 °C | 44 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 3 Apr | 33.3 °C | 43 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 4 Apr | 32.6 °C | 46 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 5 Apr | 32.7 °C | 44 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 6 Apr | 34.0 °C | 40 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 7 Apr | 34.2 °C | 37 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 8 Apr | 34.8 °C | 33 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 9 Apr | 35.2 °C | 29 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 10 Apr | 35.1 °C | 26 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 11 Apr | 35.1 °C | 29 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 12 Apr | 34.4 °C | 33 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 13 Apr | 34.7 °C | 36 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 14 Apr | 34.9 °C | 35 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 15 Apr | 35.0 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 16 Apr | 35.0 °C | 32 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 17 Apr | 33.4 °C | 40 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 18 Apr after | 29.6 °C | 60 % | 30 km/h | 2.1 mm | Low 6 |
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 17 April 2026 the air beside the fire reached 356 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 218: 15 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 · 162Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 14,089 haLongsane26 March 2026 · 28 days · 14 km away
- 16,171 haThaphabathMarch 2023 · 15 days · 26 km away
- 5,970 haLongsane27 March 2026 · 22 days · 26 km away
- 5,785 haHome31 March 2026 · 18 days · 26 km away
- 75,002 haThaphabathMarch 2026 · 27 days · 38 km away
- 8,541 haHomeMarch 2026 · 27 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Pak Khat fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 26 March 2026 and 17 April 2026: 23 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 3,840 hectares (38.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.2 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 30, 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.