Baguinet fire, 10 April 2017 Baguinet, Sogolon, Tondon
The fire started on 10 April 2017 in Baguinet, Guinea, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,952 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 34th largest in Boké since 2016 (of 237 with a page). Number 40 in Guinea in 2017, of 172.
- Burnt area
- 3,952ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 9days
- 10 Apr 2017 – 18 Apr 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 10 Apr
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 186
- in a single hotspot: 202 MW
- Danger at start
- 40
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.4GW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
39% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,585 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Baguinet where it started2,948 ha reached on 8 Apr6.5 %
-
665 ha reached on 12 Apr1.1 %
-
364 ha reached on 13 Apr0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Apr | 35.7 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 11 Apr | 37.0 °C | 36 % | 37 km/h | 2.9 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 12 Apr | 36.9 °C | 33 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 13 Apr | 38.0 °C | 27 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 14 Apr | 36.5 °C | 29 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 15 Apr | 37.1 °C | 30 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 16 Apr | 36.8 °C | 31 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 17 Apr | 36.5 °C | 32 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 18 Apr | 39.0 °C | 26 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 19 Apr after | 38.4 °C | 23 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 20 Apr after | 36.1 °C | 32 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 21 Apr after | 38.2 °C | 24 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 22 Apr after | 35.5 °C | 39 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 23 Apr after | 35.2 °C | 40 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 24 Apr after | 36.0 °C | 34 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 25 Apr after | 38.7 °C | 22 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 26 Apr after | 38.3 °C | 27 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 27 Apr after | 35.2 °C | 42 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 28 Apr after | 35.6 °C | 42 % | 32 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 34 |
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 · 186Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 11,473 haTondon14 April 2016 · 17 days · 13 km away
- 7,334 haSogolon11 April 2017 · 10 days · 14 km away
- 9,116 haThionthian9 April 2016 · 11 days · 20 km away
- 9,669 haSogolonApril 2026 · 21 days · 27 km away
- 9,219 haSogolon11 April 2017 · 10 days · 27 km away
- 14,183 haKonsotami19 April 2018 · 14 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Baguinet fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 10 April 2017 and 18 April 2017: 9 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 3,952 hectares (39.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Baguinet (2,948 ha, 6.5 %); Sogolon (665 ha, 1.1 %); Tondon (364 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.0 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 42 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 Guinea (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.
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 ADM3 (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.