Bole fire, 30 November 2024 Bole, Central Gonja, West Gonja
The fire started on 30 November 2024 in Bole, Ghana, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,254 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 108th largest in Savannah since 2016 (of 336 with a page). Number 37 in Ghana in 2024, of 115.
- Burnt area
- 3,254ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 30 Nov 2024 – 5 Dec 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- districts
- Started on
- 30 Nov
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 76
- in a single hotspot: 76 MW
- Danger at start
- 32
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.3GW
- 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 34 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
92% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,314 ha in 2016, 950 ha in 2017, 1,280 ha in 2019, 314 ha in 2020, 999 ha in 2021, 348 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,979 ha that had burned before.
- 1,216 ha Bole fire, November 2016 2,063 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 348 ha Bole fire, December 2023 3,157 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 98 ha Bole fire, November 2016 2,035 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Bole where it started3,176 ha reached on 30 Nov0.5 %
-
69 ha reached on 30 Nov0.0 %
-
33 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Nov | 33.6 °C | 24 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 1 Dec | 33.5 °C | 25 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 2 Dec | 34.7 °C | 21 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 3 Dec | 34.8 °C | 23 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 4 Dec | 33.9 °C | 22 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 5 Dec | 33.0 °C | 20 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 6 Dec after | 33.8 °C | 23 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 7 Dec after | 34.4 °C | 23 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 8 Dec after | 34.0 °C | 23 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 9 Dec after | 33.5 °C | 24 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 10 Dec after | 35.3 °C | 26 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 11 Dec after | 35.8 °C | 28 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 12 Dec after | 35.0 °C | 31 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 13 Dec after | 35.4 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 14 Dec after | 35.8 °C | 17 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 15 Dec after | 35.0 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
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 2 December 2024 the air beside the fire reached 115 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 82: 5.5 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 · 76Every 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 Bole fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 30 November 2024 and 5 December 2024: 6 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 3,254 hectares (32.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Bole (3,176 ha, 0.5 %); Central Gonja (69 ha, 0.0 %); West Gonja (33 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.8 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ghana (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: 112
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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.