Bosso fire, October 2019 Bosso
The fire started on 18 October 2019 in Bosso, Niger, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 12,329 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 2th largest in Diffa since 2016 (of 61 with a page). The largest in Niger in 2019, of 21.
- Burnt area
- 12,329ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 9days
- 18 Oct 2019 – 26 Oct 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 18 Oct
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 272
- in a single hotspot: 114 MW
- Danger at start
- 32
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.9GW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
99% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8,438 ha in 2016, 8,988 ha in 2017, 9,833 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 12,199 ha that had burned before.
- 9,696 ha Bosso fire, October 2018 22,697 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 8,988 ha Fouli fire, October 2017 42,926 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,199 ha Abadam fire, November 2016 3,557 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,185 ha Bosso fire, October 2016 1,432 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,064 ha Bosso fire, November 2016 1,350 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,027 ha Bosso fire, October 2016 1,230 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 888 ha Bosso fire, January 2016 1,062 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 568 ha Fouli fire, October 2016 4,206 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Bosso where it started8,422 ha reached on 18 Oct4.9 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Oct | 37.9 °C | 24 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 19 Oct | 35.8 °C | 39 % | 34 km/h | 1.3 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 20 Oct | 38.1 °C | 26 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 21 Oct | 38.1 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 22 Oct | 40.5 °C | 10 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 23 Oct | 39.9 °C | 19 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 24 Oct | 38.2 °C | 19 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 25 Oct | 39.2 °C | 16 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 26 Oct | 38.0 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 27 Oct after | 38.9 °C | 13 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 28 Oct after | 35.6 °C | 20 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 29 Oct after | 37.9 °C | 6 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 30 Oct after | 39.8 °C | 6 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 31 Oct after | 38.5 °C | 6 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 1 Nov after | 39.4 °C | 4 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 2 Nov after | 40.2 °C | 8 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 69 |
| 3 Nov after | 39.9 °C | 4 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 4 Nov after | 40.9 °C | 3 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 83 |
| 5 Nov after | 40.1 °C | 6 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 78 |
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.
Detections table · 272Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 27,753 haAbadam28 October 2019 · 10 days · 12 km away
- 43,877 haAbadam8 October 2021 · 36 days · 17 km away
- 42,926 haFouli2 October 2017 · 16 days · 18 km away
- 31,926 haAbadamOctober 2016 · 34 days · 19 km away
- 57,635 haKaya27 September 2016 · 38 days · 24 km away
- 32,284 haKukawa12 October 2018 · 14 days · 27 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Bosso fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 October 2019 and 26 October 2019: 9 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 12,329 hectares (123.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Bosso (8,422 ha, 4.9 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 40.5 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Niger (OCHA COD-AB). 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.
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 OCHA COD-AB (IGNN) (Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-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.