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Bamafélé fire, November 2021 Koundian, Bamafélé

Out · last detection 26 Nov 2021, 14:50 UTC

The fire started on 17 November 2021 in Bamafélé, Mali, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,278 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 39th largest in Kayes since 2016 (of 333 with a page). Number 10 in Mali in 2021, of 58.

Burnt area
5,278ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
17 Nov 2021 – 25 Nov 2021
Municipalities hit
2
communes
Started on
17 Nov
2021
Heat detections
205
in a single hotspot: 50 MW
Danger at start
20
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
1.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

26 Nov 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Nov25 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

17181920212223242526

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
32km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 17 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

69% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,169 ha in 2017, 2,032 ha in 2019, 697 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,624 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Koundian
    4,581 ha reached on 17 Nov
    2.1 %
  2. Bamafélé where it started
    729 ha reached on 17 Nov
    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)
17 Nov 33.9 °C 33 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
18 Nov 34.6 °C 30 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
19 Nov 35.7 °C 25 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
20 Nov 35.4 °C 23 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
21 Nov 35.3 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
22 Nov 35.6 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Nov 35.2 °C 24 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
24 Nov 35.2 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 Nov 35.0 °C 28 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Nov after 35.3 °C 21 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
27 Nov after 36.1 °C 23 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
28 Nov after 34.9 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
29 Nov after 33.5 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
30 Nov after 34.8 °C 25 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
1 Dec after 34.9 °C 23 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
2 Dec after 35.6 °C 21 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
3 Dec after 35.3 °C 23 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
4 Dec after 35.3 °C 22 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
5 Dec after 34.6 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 36

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 10 Nov 2021
After · 2 Dec 2021

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 · 205Every 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 Mali ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bamafélé fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 November 2021 and 25 November 2021: 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 5,278 hectares (52.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Koundian (4,581 ha, 2.1 %); Bamafélé (729 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.7 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mali (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 ADM3 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.