Djema fire, 2 January 2019 Djema, Rafaï
The fire started on 2 January 2019 in Djema, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 28 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 35,557 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 33th largest in Haut-Mbomou since 2016 (of 298 with a page). Number 4 in Central African Republic in 2019, of 64.
- Burnt area
- 35,557ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 28days
- 2 Jan 2019 – 29 Jan 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 2 Jan
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 1,824
- in a single hotspot: 100 MW
- Danger at start
- 41
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 11.9GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 57 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
75% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 27,637 ha in 2016, 8,898 ha in 2017, 3,185 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 26,514 ha that had burned before.
- 6,046 ha Djema fire, January 2016 14,828 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,334 ha Djema fire, January 2017 10,740 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,137 ha Rafaï fire, January 2016 19,106 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,813 ha Djema fire, January 2016 22,981 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 41 ha Djema fire, December 2016 15,183 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 25 ha Rafaï fire, January 2018 13,576 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Djema where it started27,145 ha reached on 2 Jan0.7 %
-
8,634 ha reached on 5 Jan0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Jan | 36.7 °C | 20 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 3 Jan | 36.5 °C | 19 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 4 Jan | 36.7 °C | 15 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 5 Jan | 36.8 °C | 16 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 6 Jan | 35.1 °C | 23 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 7 Jan | 35.5 °C | 17 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 8 Jan | 34.9 °C | 14 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 9 Jan | 35.0 °C | 14 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 10 Jan | 35.7 °C | 15 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 11 Jan | 37.6 °C | 15 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 12 Jan | 37.4 °C | 15 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 13 Jan | 37.5 °C | 17 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 14 Jan | 34.6 °C | 29 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 15 Jan | 34.9 °C | 28 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 16 Jan | 34.3 °C | 32 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 17 Jan | 36.3 °C | 12 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 18 Jan | 36.0 °C | 11 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 19 Jan | 36.6 °C | 12 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 20 Jan | 36.9 °C | 11 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 21 Jan | 37.2 °C | 9 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 22 Jan | 37.1 °C | 10 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 23 Jan | 36.9 °C | 11 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 24 Jan | 38.2 °C | 10 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 25 Jan | 36.4 °C | 21 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 26 Jan | 36.9 °C | 25 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 27 Jan | 35.7 °C | 29 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 28 Jan | 35.4 °C | 32 % | 26 km/h | 1.9 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 29 Jan | 36.3 °C | 21 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 30 Jan after | 34.8 °C | 27 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 31 Jan after | 37.7 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 1 Feb after | 37.6 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 2 Feb after | 38.0 °C | 16 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 3 Feb after | 38.0 °C | 16 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 4 Feb after | 37.0 °C | 23 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 5 Feb after | 36.8 °C | 26 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 6 Feb after | 35.3 °C | 30 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 7 Feb after | 36.1 °C | 26 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 8 Feb after | 35.8 °C | 28 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 1,824Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Djema fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 2 January 2019 to 29 January 2019 (28 days). The perimeter dates it from 2 January 2019 to 27 January 2019.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 35,557 hectares (355.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Djema (27,145 ha, 0.7 %); Rafaï (8,634 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.2 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, class Very high.
- 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.
Report an error
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.