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Ambilobe fire, September 2018 Ambilobe, Ambanja

Out · last detection 3 Oct 2018, 21:49 UTC

The fire started on 9 September 2018 in Ambilobe, Madagascar, and satellites saw it burning for 25 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,802 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 10th largest in Diana since 2016 (of 25 with a page). Number 24 in Madagascar in 2018, of 48.

Burnt area
2,802ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
25days
9 Sept 2018 – 3 Oct 2018
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
9 Sept
2018
Heat detections
248
in a single hotspot: 48 MW
Danger at start
16
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
1.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

3 Oct 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Sept3 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

91011121314151718192021222324252627282913

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

The weather it burned in

26°high
63km/h · peak gust
20%lowest humidity

It had gone 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.7 mm on 4 Oct.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Ambilobe where it started
    1,906 ha reached on 9 Sept
    0.2 %
  2. Ambanja
    917 ha reached on 9 Sept
    0.2 %

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)
9 Sept 22.8 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
10 Sept 24.4 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
11 Sept 24.4 °C 35 % 36 km/h 1.8 mm Low 7
12 Sept 23.3 °C 42 % 31 km/h 1.2 mm Low 6
13 Sept 24.1 °C 35 % 28 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 11
14 Sept 24.7 °C 30 % 28 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 16
15 Sept 24.3 °C 20 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
16 Sept 24.1 °C 21 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
17 Sept 24.1 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
18 Sept 21.7 °C 53 % 56 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 12
19 Sept 22.7 °C 46 % 63 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 16
20 Sept 22.6 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
21 Sept 23.4 °C 36 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
22 Sept 23.2 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
23 Sept 21.6 °C 45 % 32 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
24 Sept 24.8 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
25 Sept 24.7 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
26 Sept 25.5 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
27 Sept 24.4 °C 22 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
28 Sept 23.9 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
29 Sept 24.5 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.4 mm High 26
30 Sept 23.1 °C 27 % 37 km/h 6.0 mm Very low 3
1 Oct 22.3 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
2 Oct 22.9 °C 33 % 39 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 16
3 Oct 24.9 °C 35 % 36 km/h 2.3 mm Very low 5
4 Oct after 22.9 °C 46 % 31 km/h 4.7 mm Very low 1

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 2 Sept 2018
After · 10 Oct 2018

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 · 248Every 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 Madagascar ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ambilobe fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 September 2018 and 3 October 2018: 25 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 2,802 hectares (28.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ambilobe (1,906 ha, 0.2 %); Ambanja (917 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 25.5 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 63 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 Madagascar (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.

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.

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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.