Bandafassi fire, December 2019 Bandafassi
The fire started on 28 December 2019 in Bandafassi, Senegal, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,792 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 23th largest in Kédougou since 2016 (of 116 with a page). Number 6 in Senegal in 2019, of 57.
The power measured by the satellite is low (17.6 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
- 5,792ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 12days
- 28 Dec 2019 – 8 Jan 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 28 Dec
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 180
- in a single hotspot: 18 MW
- Danger at start
- 39
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 617MW
- 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 41 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
51% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,180 ha in 2016, 247 ha in 2017, 578 ha in 2018, 589 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,949 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Bandafassi where it started5,828 ha reached on 28 Dec1.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Dec | 35.9 °C | 22 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 29 Dec | 35.6 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 30 Dec | 35.8 °C | 16 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 31 Dec | 34.8 °C | 16 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 1 Jan | 33.8 °C | 16 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 2 Jan | 32.9 °C | 17 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 3 Jan | 32.5 °C | 19 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 4 Jan | 32.1 °C | 18 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 5 Jan | 32.5 °C | 17 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 6 Jan | 32.3 °C | 16 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 7 Jan | 32.7 °C | 15 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 8 Jan | 33.6 °C | 17 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 9 Jan after | 32.8 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 10 Jan after | 32.9 °C | 15 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 11 Jan after | 34.6 °C | 18 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 12 Jan after | 34.9 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 13 Jan after | 34.6 °C | 16 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 14 Jan after | 34.1 °C | 16 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 15 Jan after | 34.6 °C | 16 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 16 Jan after | 35.5 °C | 16 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 17 Jan after | 35.3 °C | 14 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 18 Jan after | 35.2 °C | 17 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
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 · 180Every 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 Bandafassi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 December 2019 and 8 January 2020: 12 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 5,792 hectares (57.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Bandafassi (5,828 ha, 1.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, 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
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.