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Phu Sing fire, February 2020 Thailand

Out · last measured on 27 Feb 2020

The fire started on 12 February 2020 in Phu Sing, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,057 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 8th largest in Si Sa Ket Province since 2016 (of 26 with a page). Number 234 in Thailand in 2020, of 666.

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
2,057ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
12 Feb 2020 – 27 Feb 2020
Municipalities hit
0
districts
Started on
12 Feb
2020
Danger at start
19
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

37°high
41km/h · peak gust
33%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.0 mm on 5 Mar.

This area had burned before

79% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 315 ha in 2016, 121 ha in 2017, 317 ha in 2018, 3,152 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,615 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)
12 Feb 34.5 °C 48 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
13 Feb 34.1 °C 48 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
14 Feb 34.3 °C 56 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 21
15 Feb 35.6 °C 42 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
16 Feb 37.0 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
17 Feb 32.9 °C 50 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
18 Feb 30.9 °C 47 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
19 Feb 32.3 °C 45 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
20 Feb 32.5 °C 41 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
21 Feb 32.7 °C 39 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
22 Feb 33.2 °C 39 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Feb 32.6 °C 42 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
24 Feb 33.0 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 Feb 34.4 °C 33 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
26 Feb 34.6 °C 37 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
27 Feb 33.4 °C 45 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
28 Feb after 34.2 °C 39 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
29 Feb after 35.3 °C 38 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
1 Mar after 35.5 °C 39 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
2 Mar after 35.3 °C 45 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
3 Mar after 35.2 °C 46 % 20 km/h 0.1 mm High 26
4 Mar after 34.9 °C 50 % 17 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
5 Mar after 33.1 °C 61 % 18 km/h 2.0 mm Low 7

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Feb 2020
After · 5 Mar 2020

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 Phu Sing fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 February 2020 and 27 February 2020: 16 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 2,057 hectares (20.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 33 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, 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
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.