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Biltine fire, 15 October 2020 Biltine

Out · last measured on 15 Oct 2020

The fire started on 15 October 2020 in Biltine, Chad, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,891 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 17th largest in Wadi Fira since 2016 (of 27 with a page). Number 80 in Chad in 2020, of 175.

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
2,891ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
1day
15 Oct 2020 – 15 Oct 2020
Municipalities hit
1
departments
Started on
15 Oct
2020
Danger at start
64
Extreme · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

41°high
28km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

It had gone 29 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
    2,913 ha
    0.1 %

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)
15 Oct 40.8 °C 7 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
16 Oct after 40.4 °C 9 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 74
17 Oct after 39.8 °C 9 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 70
18 Oct after 39.5 °C 9 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
19 Oct after 40.7 °C 8 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
20 Oct after 40.2 °C 7 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
21 Oct after 39.8 °C 7 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 81
22 Oct after 39.4 °C 7 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 81
23 Oct after 38.3 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 78
24 Oct after 37.5 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
25 Oct after 34.6 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Oct 2020
After · 22 Oct 2020

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 15 October 2020 and 15 October 2020: 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 2,891 hectares (28.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Biltine (2,913 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 40.8 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 64, 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.