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Djema fire, 30 December 2016 Djema, Obo

Out · last detection 12 Jan 2017, 10:41 UTC

The fire started on 30 December 2016 in Djema, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 12,873 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 97th largest in Haut-Mbomou since 2016 (of 298 with a page). Number 49 in Central African Republic in 2016, of 165.

Burnt area
12,873ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
14days
30 Dec 2016 – 12 Jan 2017
Municipalities hit
2
sub-prefectures
Started on
30 Dec
2016
Heat detections
378
in a single hotspot: 205 MW
Danger at start
42
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
4.3GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

12 Jan 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 30 Dec12 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

303123456789101112

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
45km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

34% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 4,349 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Djema where it started
    6,963 ha reached on 30 Dec
    0.2 %
  2. Obo
    5,983 ha reached on 30 Dec
    1.1 %

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)
30 Dec 36.8 °C 14 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
31 Dec 37.2 °C 13 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
1 Jan 37.1 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
2 Jan 36.1 °C 15 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
3 Jan 35.9 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
4 Jan 36.5 °C 15 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
5 Jan 35.7 °C 14 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
6 Jan 37.2 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
7 Jan 37.8 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
8 Jan 37.6 °C 10 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
9 Jan 36.6 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
10 Jan 37.6 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
11 Jan 37.8 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
12 Jan 37.2 °C 11 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
13 Jan after 37.6 °C 9 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
14 Jan after 38.2 °C 9 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
15 Jan after 38.5 °C 9 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
16 Jan after 39.4 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
17 Jan after 39.0 °C 10 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
18 Jan after 38.9 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
19 Jan after 39.4 °C 10 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
20 Jan after 39.5 °C 11 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
21 Jan after 38.8 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
22 Jan after 39.3 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 23 Dec 2016
After · 19 Jan 2017

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 · 378Every 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 Central African Republic ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Djema fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 30 December 2016 to 12 January 2017 (14 days). The perimeter dates it from 3 January 2017 to 12 January 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 12,873 hectares (128.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Djema (6,963 ha, 0.2 %); Obo (5,983 ha, 1.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.8 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 45 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 Central African Republic (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 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.