Tha Pla fire, March 2017 Tha Pla, Nam Pat
The fire started on 14 March 2017 in Tha Pla, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,253 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 26th largest in Uttaradit Province since 2016 (of 116 with a page). Number 52 in Thailand in 2017, of 240.
The power measured by the satellite is low (12.3 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 2,253ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 14 Mar 2017 – 20 Mar 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 14 Mar
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 69
- in a single hotspot: 12 MW
- Danger at start
- 31
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 302MW
- 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 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.7 mm on 26 Mar.
This area had burned before
14% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 309 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Tha Pla where it started1,682 ha reached on 14 Mar1.0 %
-
584 ha reached on 14 Mar0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Mar | 35.2 °C | 30 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 15 Mar | 35.5 °C | 27 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 16 Mar | 33.6 °C | 42 % | 33 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 28 |
| 17 Mar | 30.8 °C | 58 % | 29 km/h | 10.0 mm | Very low 2 |
| 18 Mar | 31.9 °C | 51 % | 38 km/h | 0.9 mm | Low 6 |
| 19 Mar | 33.6 °C | 36 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 20 Mar | 33.2 °C | 39 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 21 Mar after | 33.6 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 22 Mar after | 33.9 °C | 30 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 23 Mar after | 35.7 °C | 32 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 24 Mar after | 33.2 °C | 50 % | 30 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 25 Mar after | 34.0 °C | 41 % | 24 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 26 Mar after | 31.8 °C | 54 % | 35 km/h | 1.7 mm | Low 9 |
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.
Detections table · 69Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 13,700 haTha Pla17 March 2026 · 36 days · 13 km away
- 13,146 haNam Pat18 March 2026 · 37 days · 20 km away
- 13,219 haNam Pat4 April 2026 · 19 days · 21 km away
- 17,257 haFak Tha18 March 2026 · 34 days · 25 km away
- 22,704 haFak Tha19 March 2026 · 30 days · 33 km away
- 11,023 haNa Muen10 April 2026 · 20 days · 33 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Tha Pla fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 March 2017 and 20 March 2017: 7 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 2,253 hectares (22.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tha Pla (1,682 ha, 1.0 %); Nam Pat (584 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.5 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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.