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Djema fire, 10 December 2018 Djema

Out · last detection 19 Jan 2019, 12:03 UTC

The fire started on 10 December 2018 in Djema, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 40 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 122,661 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

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 6th largest in Haut-Mbomou since 2016 (of 298 with a page). Number 3 in Central African Republic in 2018, of 83.

Compare with…

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

Burnt area
122,661ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
40days
10 Dec 2018 – 18 Jan 2019
Municipalities hit
1
sub-prefectures
Started on
10 Dec
2018
Heat detections
6,377
in a single hotspot: 183 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Average daily power
1.1GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Dec18 Jan
19 Jan 2019

How it evolved, day by day

10 Dec 2018 · 213 MW · 48 11 Dec 2018 · 134 MW · 24 12 Dec 2018 · 107 MW · 34 13 Dec 2018 · 370 MW · 53 14 Dec 2018 · 475 MW · 86 15 Dec 2018 · 1,602 MW · 139 16 Dec 2018 · 1,337 MW · 110 17 Dec 2018 · 3,379 MW · 219 18 Dec 2018 · 2,311 MW · 295 19 Dec 2018 · 3,002 MW · 334 20 Dec 2018 · 2,541 MW · 407 21 Dec 2018 · 2,091 MW · 571 22 Dec 2018 · 2,135 MW · 422 23 Dec 2018 · 2,331 MW · 351 24 Dec 2018 · 3,660 MW · 360 25 Dec 2018 · 5,374 MW · 675 26 Dec 2018 · 3,173 MW · 493 27 Dec 2018 · 1,215 MW · 139 28 Dec 2018 · 527 MW · 97 29 Dec 2018 · 1,327 MW · 156 30 Dec 2018 · 1,159 MW · 184 31 Dec 2018 · 379 MW · 207 1 Jan 2019 · 189 MW · 110 2 Jan 2019 · 811 MW · 77 3 Jan 2019 · 917 MW · 146 4 Jan 2019 · 188 MW · 39 5 Jan 2019 · 747 MW · 94 6 Jan 2019 · 882 MW · 170 7 Jan 2019 · 420 MW · 80 8 Jan 2019 · 420 MW · 70 9 Jan 2019 · 325 MW · 42 10 Jan 2019 · 422 MW · 74 11 Jan 2019 · 145 MW · 27 12 Jan 2019 · 17 MW · 5 13 Jan 2019 · 116 MW · 7 14 Jan 2019 · 161 MW · 17 15 Jan 2019 · 8 MW · 1 17 Jan 2019 · 3 MW · 1 18 Jan 2019 · 56 MW · 7 19 Jan 2019 · 79 MW · 6
10 Dec 16 Dec 22 Dec 25 Dec 28 Dec 3 Jan 9 Jan 15 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
41km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone 34 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

62% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 67,669 ha in 2016, 27,820 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 76,484 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 77% of the area of London (1,227 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
    123,388 ha reached on 10 Dec
    3.4 %

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 area1.2 ha
Residents≈ 200

Inside the perimeter there were about 1.2 hectares of built-up land and about 200 residents (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)
10 Dec 33.7 °C 20 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
11 Dec 33.8 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Dec 34.1 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
13 Dec 34.1 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
14 Dec 34.2 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
15 Dec 35.3 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Dec 35.4 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Dec 36.2 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
18 Dec 34.3 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
19 Dec 34.6 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
20 Dec 34.0 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
21 Dec 34.2 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
22 Dec 33.6 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
23 Dec 33.6 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
24 Dec 34.1 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Dec 35.1 °C 18 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Dec 35.7 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Dec 36.3 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Dec 36.1 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Dec 35.6 °C 18 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
30 Dec 35.3 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
31 Dec 33.9 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
1 Jan 35.3 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
2 Jan 36.4 °C 18 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
3 Jan 36.5 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
4 Jan 36.2 °C 14 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
5 Jan 35.9 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
6 Jan 35.8 °C 19 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
7 Jan 35.4 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Jan 35.2 °C 13 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Jan 35.2 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
10 Jan 36.1 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
11 Jan 37.0 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
12 Jan 37.8 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
13 Jan 38.1 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Jan 35.4 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
15 Jan 35.0 °C 31 % 27 km/h 1.5 mm High 26
16 Jan 35.5 °C 21 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Jan 35.9 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
18 Jan 35.8 °C 11 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
19 Jan after 36.8 °C 13 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
20 Jan after 37.2 °C 11 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
21 Jan after 37.8 °C 9 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Jan after 38.1 °C 9 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
23 Jan after 37.4 °C 10 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
24 Jan after 38.6 °C 9 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
25 Jan after 37.5 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
26 Jan after 37.5 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
27 Jan after 36.1 °C 26 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
28 Jan after 36.3 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 3 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 · 6,377Every 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 18 January 2019 (40 days). The perimeter dates it from 15 December 2018 to 11 January 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 122,661 hectares (1,226.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Djema (123,388 ha, 3.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 41 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

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; 5 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 15 December 2018 to 11 January 2019. 6,377 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.