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Bilimono fire, 12 December 2017 Parc national de la Comoé, Bilimono

Out · last detection 24 Dec 2017, 14:16 UTC

The fire started on 12 December 2017 in Bilimono, Côte d’Ivoire, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 8,776 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 4th largest in Savanes since 2016 (of 276 with a page). Number 4 in Côte d’Ivoire in 2017, of 174.

Burnt area
8,776ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
13days
12 Dec 2017 – 24 Dec 2017
Municipalities hit
2
sub-prefectures
Started on
12 Dec
2017
Heat detections
290
in a single hotspot: 85 MW
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index
Energy released
2.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Dec 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Dec24 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

1213141516171819202324

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
31km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone 20 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

57% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,018 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Parc national de la Comoé
    5,157 ha reached on 14 Dec
    0.6 %
  2. Bilimono where it started
    3,674 ha reached on 12 Dec
    1.1 %

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)
12 Dec 35.3 °C 18 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Dec 37.4 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
14 Dec 35.1 °C 41 % 24 km/h 0.3 mm High 27
15 Dec 34.1 °C 36 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
16 Dec 36.9 °C 18 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
17 Dec 36.7 °C 21 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Dec 37.1 °C 23 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
19 Dec 35.4 °C 31 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
20 Dec 35.5 °C 27 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
21 Dec 35.8 °C 11 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
22 Dec 32.6 °C 12 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
23 Dec 34.1 °C 12 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
24 Dec 34.9 °C 12 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
25 Dec after 35.5 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Dec after 35.6 °C 14 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
27 Dec after 37.1 °C 14 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
28 Dec after 37.2 °C 17 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Dec after 36.1 °C 19 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
30 Dec after 36.6 °C 14 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
31 Dec after 35.4 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
1 Jan after 35.7 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
2 Jan after 34.7 °C 11 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Jan after 34.3 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Dec 2017
After · 31 Dec 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 · 290Every 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 Côte d’Ivoire ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bilimono fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 12 December 2017 to 24 December 2017 (13 days). The perimeter dates it from 13 December 2017 to 24 December 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 8,776 hectares (87.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Parc national de la Comoé (5,157 ha, 0.6 %); Bilimono (3,674 ha, 1.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.4 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 31 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 47, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Côte d’Ivoire (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: 180

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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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 180.

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.