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Bala fire, January 2017 Koulor, Bouinguel Bamba, Bala

Out · last detection 30 Jan 2017, 02:20 UTC

The fire started on 22 January 2017 in Bala, Senegal, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,721 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 46th largest in Tambacounda since 2016 (of 291 with a page). Number 8 in Senegal in 2017, of 75.

Burnt area
4,721ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
22 Jan 2017 – 30 Jan 2017
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
22 Jan
2017
Heat detections
121
in a single hotspot: 107 MW
Danger at start
59
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
662MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

30 Jan 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Jan30 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

222324252627282930

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
44km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Koulor
    2,032 ha reached on 23 Jan
    0.3 %
  2. Bouinguel Bamba
    1,434 ha reached on 22 Jan
    0.5 %
  3. Bala where it started
    1,283 ha reached on 22 Jan
    0.4 %

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)
22 Jan 32.3 °C 11 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
23 Jan 31.9 °C 14 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
24 Jan 33.1 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
25 Jan 35.1 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
26 Jan 36.0 °C 7 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
27 Jan 36.0 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
28 Jan 36.7 °C 10 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
29 Jan 36.4 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
30 Jan 37.8 °C 8 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
31 Jan after 36.4 °C 9 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
1 Feb after 35.5 °C 8 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
2 Feb after 33.4 °C 14 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
3 Feb after 34.3 °C 11 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
4 Feb after 35.3 °C 8 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
5 Feb after 34.7 °C 8 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
6 Feb after 36.7 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
7 Feb after 36.8 °C 10 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
8 Feb after 36.1 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
9 Feb after 36.3 °C 8 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 15 Jan 2017
After · 6 Feb 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 · 121Every 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 Senegal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bala fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 January 2017 and 30 January 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 4,721 hectares (47.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Koulor (2,032 ha, 0.3 %); Bouinguel Bamba (1,434 ha, 0.5 %); Bala (1,283 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.8 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 61, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Senegal (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: 18

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 18.

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.