Bandafassi fire, 16 January 2026 Bandafassi, Sabodala
The fire started on 16 January 2026 in Bandafassi, Senegal, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,578 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 25th largest in Kédougou since 2016 (of 116 with a page). Number 25 in Senegal in 2026, of 125.
- Burnt area
- 5,578ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 16 Jan 2026 – 22 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 16 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 120
- in a single hotspot: 51 MW
- Danger at start
- 48
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.0GW
- 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
59% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,427 ha in 2017, 23 ha in 2019, 806 ha in 2020, 1,200 ha in 2022, 58 ha in 2023, 568 ha in 2024, 294 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,307 ha that had burned before.
- 1,261 ha Bandafassi fire, December 2017 2,827 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 112 ha Bandafassi fire, February 2025 3,056 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 91 ha Bandafassi fire, December 2022 5,284 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Bandafassi where it started5,616 ha reached on 16 Jan1.0 %
-
0 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Jan | 37.2 °C | 16 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 17 Jan | 36.9 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 18 Jan | 34.9 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 19 Jan | 34.1 °C | 16 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 20 Jan | 31.8 °C | 27 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 21 Jan | 32.4 °C | 21 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 22 Jan | 31.6 °C | 23 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 23 Jan after | 34.3 °C | 22 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 24 Jan after | 35.2 °C | 19 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 25 Jan after | 31.8 °C | 18 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 26 Jan after | 34.2 °C | 16 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 27 Jan after | 35.6 °C | 15 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 28 Jan after | 36.6 °C | 12 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 29 Jan after | 37.5 °C | 9 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 30 Jan after | 38.2 °C | 12 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 31 Jan after | 38.6 °C | 8 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 1 Feb after | 37.3 °C | 14 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 14 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 72 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 58: 3.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 120Every 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 16 January 2026 and 22 January 2026: 7 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 5,578 hectares (55.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bandafassi (5,616 ha, 1.0 %); Sabodala (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.2 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, class Very high.
- 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.