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Djema fire, 10 December 2018 Djema

Out · last detection 14 Jan 2019, 11:56 UTC

The fire started on 10 December 2018 in Djema, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 35 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 83,573 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 12th largest in Haut-Mbomou since 2016 (of 298 with a page). Number 6 in Central African Republic in 2018, of 81.

Burnt area
83,573ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
35days
10 Dec 2018 – 13 Jan 2019
Municipalities hit
1
sub-prefectures
Started on
10 Dec
2018
Heat detections
3,324
in a single hotspot: 184 MW
Danger at start
38
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
22.4GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

14 Jan 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Dec13 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

101112131415161718192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314

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
42km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 37 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

64% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 46,377 ha in 2016, 24,984 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 53,169 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Djema where it started
    52,324 ha reached on 10 Dec
    1.4 %

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)
12 Dec 33.4 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
13 Dec 33.3 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
14 Dec 33.2 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Dec 34.4 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
16 Dec 34.9 °C 20 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Dec 35.4 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
18 Dec 33.5 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
19 Dec 33.7 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Dec 33.0 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
21 Dec 33.2 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
22 Dec 32.6 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
23 Dec 32.6 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
24 Dec 33.1 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
25 Dec 34.2 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Dec 34.8 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Dec 35.3 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Dec 35.3 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
29 Dec 34.6 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 Dec 34.2 °C 14 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
31 Dec 32.9 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
1 Jan 34.4 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Jan 35.8 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
3 Jan 35.5 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
4 Jan 35.2 °C 14 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
5 Jan 35.3 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
6 Jan 35.4 °C 19 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Jan 34.6 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Jan 34.5 °C 12 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
9 Jan 34.2 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
10 Jan 35.3 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Jan 36.0 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
12 Jan 37.0 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
13 Jan 37.5 °C 13 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
14 Jan after 35.1 °C 21 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
15 Jan after 34.2 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.7 mm High 33
16 Jan after 35.2 °C 16 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
17 Jan after 34.9 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
18 Jan after 35.1 °C 11 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
19 Jan after 36.1 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
20 Jan after 36.5 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
21 Jan after 37.0 °C 9 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
22 Jan after 37.3 °C 9 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
23 Jan after 36.8 °C 10 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 3 Dec 2018
After · 20 Jan 2019

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 · 3,324Every 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 10 December 2018 to 13 January 2019 (35 days). The perimeter dates it from 12 December 2018 to 13 January 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 83,573 hectares (835.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Djema (52,324 ha, 1.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.5 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 53, 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.