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Djema fire, 8 December 2018 Djema, Yalinga, Rafaï

Out · last detection 19 Jan 2019, 12:02 UTC

The fire started on 8 December 2018 in Djema, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 42 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 111,967 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 7th largest in Haut-Mbomou since 2016 (of 298 with a page). Number 4 in Central African Republic in 2018, of 81.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Djema · 2016Djema · 2016Yalinga · 2017Djema · 2016

Burnt area
111,967ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
42days
8 Dec 2018 – 18 Jan 2019
Municipalities hit
3
sub-prefectures
Started on
8 Dec
2018
Heat detections
4,491
in a single hotspot: 193 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Average daily power
771MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Dec18 Jan
19 Jan 2019

How it evolved, day by day

8 Dec 2018 · 707 MW · 47 9 Dec 2018 · 70 MW · 8 11 Dec 2018 · 141 MW · 14 12 Dec 2018 · 50 MW · 12 13 Dec 2018 · 287 MW · 29 14 Dec 2018 · 447 MW · 46 15 Dec 2018 · 91 MW · 26 16 Dec 2018 · 244 MW · 30 17 Dec 2018 · 310 MW · 35 18 Dec 2018 · 426 MW · 58 19 Dec 2018 · 1,181 MW · 117 20 Dec 2018 · 1,374 MW · 135 21 Dec 2018 · 2,014 MW · 298 22 Dec 2018 · 735 MW · 165 23 Dec 2018 · 1,374 MW · 152 24 Dec 2018 · 1,207 MW · 108 25 Dec 2018 · 703 MW · 89 26 Dec 2018 · 1,092 MW · 47 27 Dec 2018 · 769 MW · 38 28 Dec 2018 · 172 MW · 40 29 Dec 2018 · 336 MW · 45 30 Dec 2018 · 721 MW · 105 31 Dec 2018 · 2,364 MW · 449 1 Jan 2019 · 728 MW · 144 2 Jan 2019 · 982 MW · 178 3 Jan 2019 · 3,546 MW · 338 4 Jan 2019 · 1,530 MW · 196 5 Jan 2019 · 1,523 MW · 176 6 Jan 2019 · 1,141 MW · 282 7 Jan 2019 · 837 MW · 126 8 Jan 2019 · 416 MW · 87 9 Jan 2019 · 813 MW · 154 10 Jan 2019 · 1,388 MW · 226 11 Jan 2019 · 1,432 MW · 320 12 Jan 2019 · 218 MW · 46 13 Jan 2019 · 508 MW · 56 14 Jan 2019 · 43 MW · 7 15 Jan 2019 · 22 MW · 5 16 Jan 2019 · 95 MW · 12 17 Jan 2019 · 152 MW · 9 18 Jan 2019 · 210 MW · 34 19 Jan 2019 · 5 MW · 2
8 Dec 15 Dec 21 Dec 27 Dec 2 Jan 3 Jan 8 Jan 14 Jan

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
43km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 32 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

73% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 82,475 ha in 2016, 35,072 ha in 2017, 6,462 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 81,342 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 71% of the area of London (1,120 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Djema where it started
    97,229 ha reached on 8 Dec
    2.7 %
  2. Yalinga
    14,113 ha reached on 11 Dec
    0.3 %
  3. Rafaï
    1,318 ha reached on 9 Jan
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
8 Dec 34.9 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
9 Dec 33.2 °C 20 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
10 Dec 33.5 °C 21 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
11 Dec 34.0 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Dec 34.5 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Dec 34.6 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
14 Dec 34.8 °C 15 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Dec 35.6 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
16 Dec 35.7 °C 19 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
17 Dec 36.2 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
18 Dec 34.0 °C 13 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
19 Dec 34.9 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Dec 34.1 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
21 Dec 34.3 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
22 Dec 33.8 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
23 Dec 34.0 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
24 Dec 34.4 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Dec 35.4 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Dec 36.0 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
27 Dec 36.3 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
28 Dec 35.8 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Dec 35.5 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
30 Dec 35.6 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
31 Dec 34.2 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
1 Jan 35.3 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Jan 37.1 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
3 Jan 36.6 °C 17 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
4 Jan 36.6 °C 13 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
5 Jan 36.7 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
6 Jan 35.9 °C 19 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
7 Jan 35.4 °C 16 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Jan 35.1 °C 13 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
9 Jan 35.2 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
10 Jan 36.2 °C 14 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
11 Jan 37.3 °C 14 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
12 Jan 38.0 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
13 Jan 38.2 °C 13 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
14 Jan 35.9 °C 20 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
15 Jan 34.9 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
16 Jan 35.1 °C 26 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
17 Jan 36.0 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
18 Jan 35.9 °C 10 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
19 Jan after 37.1 °C 11 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
20 Jan after 37.5 °C 10 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
21 Jan after 37.9 °C 8 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 Jan after 38.0 °C 8 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
23 Jan after 37.3 °C 9 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
24 Jan after 38.6 °C 8 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
25 Jan after 37.3 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
26 Jan after 37.6 °C 21 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
27 Jan after 36.1 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
28 Jan after 35.4 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Dec 2018
After · 25 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 · 4,491Every 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 8 December 2018 to 18 January 2019 (42 days). The perimeter dates it from 15 December 2018 to 13 January 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 111,967 hectares (1,119.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Djema (97,229 ha, 2.7 %); Yalinga (14,113 ha, 0.3 %); Rafaï (1,318 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.2 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, 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

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 8 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 15 December 2018 to 13 January 2019. 4,491 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.