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Diokéli fire, November 2025 Diokéli, Oualia, Mahina

Out · last detection 28 Nov 2025, 14:22 UTC

The fire started on 23 November 2025 in Diokéli, Mali, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,539 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 69th largest in Kayes since 2016 (of 333 with a page). Number 98 in Mali in 2025, of 282.

The power measured by the satellite is low (20.1 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
3,539ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
23 Nov 2025 – 27 Nov 2025
Municipalities hit
3
communes
Started on
23 Nov
2025
Heat detections
40
in a single hotspot: 20 MW
Danger at start
45
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
159MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

28 Nov 2025
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 23 Nov27 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

2324252728

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

36°high
44km/h · peak gust
17%lowest humidity

It had gone 28 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

58% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 945 ha in 2016, 719 ha in 2017, 643 ha in 2018, 475 ha in 2022, 31 ha in 2023, 144 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,065 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Diokéli where it started
    2,052 ha reached on 23 Nov
    4.6 %
  2. Oualia
    1,483 ha reached on 24 Nov
    0.4 %
  3. Mahina
    25 ha
    0.0 %

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)
23 Nov 36.1 °C 17 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Nov 35.6 °C 17 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Nov 33.9 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Nov 34.2 °C 17 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
27 Nov 36.0 °C 17 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
28 Nov after 36.4 °C 18 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
29 Nov after 36.9 °C 18 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
30 Nov after 36.4 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
1 Dec after 36.1 °C 21 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
2 Dec after 32.6 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
3 Dec after 33.1 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
4 Dec after 33.9 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Dec after 33.8 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Dec after 36.1 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
7 Dec after 33.0 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 16 Nov 2025
After · 4 Dec 2025

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 · Copernicus

On 22 November 2025 the air beside the fire reached 62 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 50: 3.3 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak62 µg/m³
Days over the guideline10 days
PM10259 µg/m³
Optical depth0.53
21222324252627282930
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 40Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Mali ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Diokéli fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 November 2025 and 27 November 2025: 5 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 3,539 hectares (35.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Diokéli (2,052 ha, 4.6 %); Oualia (1,483 ha, 0.4 %); Mahina (25 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.1 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mali (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 ADM3 (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.