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Thong Pha Phum fire, 11 March 2017 Thong Pha Phum, Sai Yok

Out · last detection 14 Mar 2017, 06:35 UTC

The fire started on 11 March 2017 in Thong Pha Phum, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,004 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 390th largest in Kanchanaburi Province since 2016 (of 393 with a page). Number 238 in Thailand in 2017, of 240.

The power measured by the satellite is low (5.3 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
1,004ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
3days
11 Mar 2017 – 13 Mar 2017
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
11 Mar
2017
Heat detections
17
in a single hotspot: 5 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Energy released
48MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

14 Mar 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 11 Mar13 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

11121314

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
40km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

50% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 502 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Thong Pha Phum where it started
    652 ha reached on 11 Mar
    0.2 %
  2. Sai Yok
    358 ha reached on 12 Mar
    0.1 %

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 37.9 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Mar 36.0 °C 33 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
13 Mar 36.5 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
14 Mar after 38.3 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
15 Mar after 38.5 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Mar after 38.5 °C 23 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
17 Mar after 36.9 °C 31 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
18 Mar after 35.9 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
19 Mar after 36.6 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
20 Mar after 37.9 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
21 Mar after 36.5 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Mar after 38.3 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
23 Mar after 38.9 °C 26 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 4 Mar 2017
After · 20 Mar 2017

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 · 17Every 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 Thong Pha Phum fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 March 2017 and 13 March 2017: 3 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 1,004 hectares (10.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Thong Pha Phum (652 ha, 0.2 %); Sai Yok (358 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.9 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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.