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Wang Chin fire, 19 March 2016 Wang Chin, Sop Prap

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

The fire started on 19 March 2016 in Wang Chin, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,011 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 39th largest in Phrae Province since 2016 (of 120 with a page). Number 161 in Thailand in 2016, of 527.

The power measured by the satellite is low (13.1 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
2,011ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
19 Mar 2016 – 24 Mar 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
19 Mar
2016
Heat detections
84
in a single hotspot: 13 MW
Danger at start
29
High · FWI index
Energy released
255MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Mar 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Mar24 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

19202122232425

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
31km/h · peak gust
25%lowest humidity

It had gone 20 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.2 mm on 2 Apr.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Wang Chin where it started
    1,262 ha reached on 16 Mar
    1.3 %
  2. Sop Prap
    759 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)
16 Mar 35.7 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
17 Mar 36.2 °C 31 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Mar 36.5 °C 27 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
19 Mar 36.4 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
20 Mar 36.7 °C 29 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Mar 36.6 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
22 Mar 36.7 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Mar 36.3 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
24 Mar 36.0 °C 29 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
25 Mar after 33.6 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Mar after 32.7 °C 37 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Mar after 31.1 °C 46 % 39 km/h 0.3 mm High 27
28 Mar after 32.8 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
29 Mar after 32.4 °C 39 % 33 km/h 0.6 mm High 23
30 Mar after 33.5 °C 39 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
31 Mar after 34.7 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
1 Apr after 34.7 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.2 mm High 30
2 Apr after 34.1 °C 31 % 28 km/h 2.2 mm Moderate 18

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 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 · 84Every 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 Wang Chin fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 March 2016 and 24 March 2016: 6 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 2,011 hectares (20.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Wang Chin (1,262 ha, 1.3 %); Sop Prap (759 ha, 1.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.7 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 31 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, 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.