Bala fire, October 2020 Bala
The fire started on 25 October 2020 in Bala, Senegal, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,344 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 87th largest in Tambacounda since 2016 (of 291 with a page). Number 19 in Senegal in 2020, of 73.
The power measured by the satellite is low (27.8 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
- 3,344ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 25 Oct 2020 – 30 Oct 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 25 Oct
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 125
- in a single hotspot: 28 MW
- Danger at start
- 13
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 703MW
- 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 12 days 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
-
Bala where it started3,367 ha reached on 18 Oct1.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Oct | 37.4 °C | 36 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 26 Oct | 36.6 °C | 35 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 27 Oct | 36.9 °C | 32 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 28 Oct | 37.8 °C | 28 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 29 Oct | 38.0 °C | 29 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 30 Oct | 38.2 °C | 33 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 31 Oct after | 37.2 °C | 31 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 1 Nov after | 38.0 °C | 26 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 2 Nov after | 37.1 °C | 32 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 3 Nov after | 36.2 °C | 40 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 4 Nov after | 36.7 °C | 33 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 5 Nov after | 36.7 °C | 45 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 6 Nov after | 37.1 °C | 46 % | 24 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 7 Nov after | 39.9 °C | 28 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 8 Nov after | 39.2 °C | 23 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 9 Nov after | 37.4 °C | 29 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
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 · 125Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Bala fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 October 2020 and 30 October 2020: 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 3,344 hectares (33.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Bala (3,367 ha, 1.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.2 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 20 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 19, class Moderate.
- 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
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.