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Sam Ngao fire, 16 March 2016 Sam Ngao, Doi Tao

Out · last detection 25 Mar 2016, 07:14 UTC

The fire started on 16 March 2016 in Sam Ngao, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,189 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 52th largest in Tak Province since 2016 (of 499 with a page). Number 45 in Thailand in 2016, of 527.

Burnt area
4,189ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
16 Mar 2016 – 24 Mar 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
16 Mar
2016
Heat detections
108
in a single hotspot: 173 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Mar 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Mar24 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

16171819202122232425

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
41km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 43 days 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. Sam Ngao where it started
    2,940 ha reached on 16 Mar
    1.1 %
  2. Doi Tao
    1,276 ha reached on 16 Mar
    1.5 %

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)
11 Mar 35.1 °C 27 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Mar 34.1 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Mar 34.3 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
14 Mar 35.0 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Mar 35.3 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Mar 34.6 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Mar 35.6 °C 26 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
18 Mar 36.0 °C 22 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
19 Mar 35.2 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
20 Mar 36.0 °C 26 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
21 Mar 35.5 °C 28 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
22 Mar 35.1 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
23 Mar 35.4 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
24 Mar 35.0 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Mar after 33.1 °C 34 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
26 Mar after 33.2 °C 31 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Mar after 30.8 °C 39 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
28 Mar after 32.0 °C 37 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
29 Mar after 31.6 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
30 Mar after 33.8 °C 26 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
31 Mar after 34.4 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
1 Apr after 34.2 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
2 Apr after 33.5 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.5 mm High 34
3 Apr after 36.5 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Mar 2016
After · 31 Mar 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 · 108Every 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 Sam Ngao fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 March 2016 and 24 March 2016: 9 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 4,189 hectares (41.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Sam Ngao (2,940 ha, 1.1 %); Doi Tao (1,276 ha, 1.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.0 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very 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.