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Pong fire, 14 April 2016 Pong, Tha Wang Pha

Out · last detection 18 Apr 2016, 18:55 UTC

The fire started on 14 April 2016 in Pong, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,614 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 58th largest in Phayao Province since 2016 (of 125 with a page). Number 228 in Thailand in 2016, of 527.

Burnt area
1,614ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
14 Apr 2016 – 18 Apr 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
14 Apr
2016
Heat detections
39
in a single hotspot: 48 MW
Danger at start
30
High · FWI index
Energy released
332MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Apr 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Apr18 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

1415161718

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

34°high
36km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Pong where it started
    1,343 ha reached on 14 Apr
    0.8 %
  2. Tha Wang Pha
    280 ha reached on 14 Apr
    0.4 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

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)
7 Apr 31.8 °C 29 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
8 Apr 31.8 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.2 mm High 31
9 Apr 31.6 °C 35 % 36 km/h 2.7 mm Moderate 11
10 Apr 31.5 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
11 Apr 33.5 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
12 Apr 33.8 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
13 Apr 32.6 °C 27 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
14 Apr 33.8 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
15 Apr 34.0 °C 21 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
16 Apr 33.5 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Apr 33.5 °C 26 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
18 Apr 32.3 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
19 Apr after 31.9 °C 39 % 42 km/h 0.9 mm High 24
20 Apr after 32.7 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
21 Apr after 33.0 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
22 Apr after 32.1 °C 27 % 44 km/h 0.4 mm High 35
23 Apr after 32.3 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
24 Apr after 32.5 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 Apr after 31.3 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
26 Apr after 32.8 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Apr after 33.4 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Apr after 34.1 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Apr 2016
After · 25 Apr 2016

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 39Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Thailand ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Pong fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 April 2016 and 18 April 2016: 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 1,614 hectares (16.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Pong (1,343 ha, 0.8 %); Tha Wang Pha (280 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.0 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, 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.