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Wang Chin fire, April 2016 Wang Chin, Si Satchanalai, Thoen

Out · last detection 25 Apr 2016, 18:24 UTC

The fire started on 16 April 2016 in Wang Chin, Thailand, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,199 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 33th largest in Phrae Province since 2016 (of 120 with a page). Number 141 in Thailand in 2016, of 527.

The power measured by the satellite is low (21.4 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
2,199ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
10days
16 Apr 2016 – 25 Apr 2016
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
16 Apr
2016
Heat detections
73
in a single hotspot: 21 MW
Danger at start
38
High · FWI index
Energy released
288MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Apr 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Apr25 Apr

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

41°high
40km/h · peak gust
26%lowest humidity

It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.0 mm on 29 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
    1,676 ha reached on 11 Apr
    1.7 %
  2. Si Satchanalai
    286 ha reached on 11 Apr
    0.1 %
  3. Thoen
    249 ha reached on 17 Apr
    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 Apr 41.3 °C 28 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
12 Apr 40.9 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
13 Apr 40.7 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
14 Apr 41.0 °C 27 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Apr 41.4 °C 26 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Apr 40.5 °C 27 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
17 Apr 41.4 °C 26 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Apr 39.9 °C 32 % 25 km/h 0.2 mm High 38
19 Apr 39.4 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
20 Apr 40.9 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 38
21 Apr 39.5 °C 32 % 36 km/h 2.7 mm High 24
22 Apr 39.4 °C 30 % 39 km/h 1.7 mm High 28
23 Apr 39.3 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Apr 39.1 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Apr 39.6 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Apr after 40.9 °C 29 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Apr after 40.6 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Apr after 39.9 °C 34 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Apr after 37.6 °C 40 % 38 km/h 2.0 mm Moderate 19

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Apr 2016
After · 2 May 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 · 73Every 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 16 April 2016 and 25 April 2016: 10 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 2,199 hectares (22.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Wang Chin (1,676 ha, 1.7 %); Si Satchanalai (286 ha, 0.1 %); Thoen (249 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.4 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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.