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TD · Chad · →

Biltine fire, February 2022 Biltine

Out · last measured on 15 Feb 2022

The fire started on 14 February 2022 in Biltine, Chad, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,795 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 13th largest in Wadi Fira since 2016 (of 27 with a page). Number 25 in Chad in 2022, of 102.

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
3,795ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
2days
14 Feb 2022 – 15 Feb 2022
Municipalities hit
1
departments
Started on
14 Feb
2022
Danger at start
58
Extreme · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

37°high
35km/h · peak gust
6%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

14% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 515 ha in 2020.

What happened to each town

  1. Biltine where it started
    3,812 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)
14 Feb 35.6 °C 9 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
15 Feb 36.8 °C 6 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
16 Feb after 36.2 °C 7 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
17 Feb after 35.8 °C 7 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
18 Feb after 33.7 °C 8 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 80
19 Feb after 30.7 °C 10 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 79
20 Feb after 30.5 °C 7 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
21 Feb after 32.7 °C 9 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
22 Feb after 32.9 °C 5 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
23 Feb after 34.0 °C 5 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
24 Feb after 33.4 °C 7 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
25 Feb after 32.5 °C 8 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Feb 2022
After · 22 Feb 2022

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 14 February 2022 and 15 February 2022: 2 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 3,795 hectares (38.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Biltine (3,812 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 67, 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.