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Biltine fire, November 2018 Biltine

Out · last measured on 6 Nov 2018

The fire started on 6 November 2018 in Biltine, Chad, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,309 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 11th largest in Wadi Fira since 2016 (of 27 with a page). Number 8 in Chad in 2018, of 78.

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
4,309ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
1day
6 Nov 2018 – 6 Nov 2018
Municipalities hit
1
departments
Started on
6 Nov
2018
Danger at start
62
Extreme · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

37°high
30km/h · peak gust
8%lowest humidity

It had gone 41 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

  1. Biltine where it started
    4,328 ha
    0.2 %

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)
6 Nov 37.0 °C 8 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
7 Nov after 35.9 °C 7 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
8 Nov after 34.7 °C 8 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
9 Nov after 34.7 °C 7 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
10 Nov after 35.9 °C 9 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
11 Nov after 36.9 °C 10 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
12 Nov after 37.7 °C 12 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
13 Nov after 37.4 °C 11 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
14 Nov after 36.9 °C 10 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
15 Nov after 35.4 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
16 Nov after 34.8 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 30 Oct 2018
After · 13 Nov 2018

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Other fires nearby

All fires in Chad ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Biltine fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 November 2018 and 6 November 2018: 1 day 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 4,309 hectares (43.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Biltine (4,328 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 30 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 62, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Chad (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 ADM2 (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.