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Sangkhom fire, January 2023 Thailand

Out · last measured on 3 Feb 2023

The fire started on 12 January 2023 in Sangkhom, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 23 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,248 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 20th largest in Nong Khai Province since 2016 (of 27 with a page). Number 354 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
1,248ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
23days
12 Jan 2023 – 3 Feb 2023
Municipalities hit
0
districts
Started on
12 Jan
2023
Danger at start
10
Low · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

34°high
45km/h · peak gust
26%lowest humidity

It had gone 42 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

10% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 114 ha in 2018, 33 ha in 2019, 8 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 122 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 Jan 29.2 °C 56 % 17 km/h 0.2 mm Low 10
13 Jan 31.5 °C 47 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
14 Jan 33.4 °C 31 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
15 Jan 33.8 °C 26 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
16 Jan 29.7 °C 41 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
17 Jan 28.6 °C 43 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
18 Jan 28.4 °C 40 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
19 Jan 28.5 °C 42 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
20 Jan 28.2 °C 42 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
21 Jan 29.2 °C 42 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
22 Jan 32.2 °C 34 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
23 Jan 32.6 °C 34 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
24 Jan 30.8 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 Jan 25.9 °C 45 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
26 Jan 29.2 °C 38 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
27 Jan 30.0 °C 39 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
28 Jan 26.1 °C 46 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
29 Jan 25.6 °C 38 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
30 Jan 26.7 °C 36 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
31 Jan 29.3 °C 33 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
1 Feb 32.5 °C 34 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
2 Feb 33.3 °C 32 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
3 Feb 26.0 °C 70 % 19 km/h 1.7 mm Very low 5
4 Feb after 28.8 °C 67 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
5 Feb after 31.2 °C 59 % 26 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 12
6 Feb after 34.1 °C 49 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
7 Feb after 34.9 °C 40 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
8 Feb after 35.6 °C 34 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
9 Feb after 34.5 °C 51 % 30 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 21
10 Feb after 34.9 °C 46 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
11 Feb after 37.2 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
12 Feb after 36.9 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
13 Feb after 36.8 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Jan 2023
After · 10 Feb 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 31 January 2023 the air beside the fire reached 133 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 85: 5.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak133 µg/m³
Days over the guideline25 days
PM10191 µg/m³
Optical depth1.00
10111213141516171819202122232425262728293031123456
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 Sangkhom fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 January 2023 and 3 February 2023: 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 1,248 hectares (12.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.8 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, 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.