How long did the Djema fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 9 January 2020 to 16 February 2020 (39 days). The perimeter dates it from 16 January 2020 to 9 February 2020.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 307,099 hectares (3,071.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 3 municipalities: Djema (155,767 ha, 4.3 %); Rafaï (141,516 ha, 5.1 %); Yalinga (11,904 ha, 0.3 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 38.0 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 62, 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.

CF · Central African Republic · 2020-01-09 → 2020-02-16

Djema fire, 9 January 2020 Djema, Rafaï, Yalinga

Out · last detection 17 Feb 2020, 12:14 UTC

The fire started on 9 January 2020 in Djema, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 39 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 307,099 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.

It is the 2th largest in Haut-Mbomou since 2016 (of 298 with a page). Number 3 in Central African Republic in 2020, of 103.

Burnt area: 307,099ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 39days; 9 Jan 2020 – 16 Feb 2020
Municipalities hit: 3; sub-prefectures
Started on: 9 Jan; 2020
Heat detections: 10,894; in a single hotspot: 352 MW
Danger at start: 51; Extreme · FWI index
Energy released: 77.7GW; sum of detected power

Play back 17 Feb 2020

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Jan16 Feb

How it evolved, day by day

9101112131415161718192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314151617

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

47km/h · peak gust

10%lowest humidity

It had gone 33 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

81% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 157,620 ha in 2016, 63,795 ha in 2017, 117,599 ha in 2018, 115,804 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 249,801 ha that had burned before.

177 ha Yalinga fire, January 2017 238,204 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire

What happened to each town

Djema where it started

155,767 ha reached on 9 Jan

4.3 %
Rafaï

141,516 ha reached on 9 Jan

5.1 %
Yalinga

11,904 ha reached on 9 Jan

0.3 %

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)
16 Jan	38.0 °C	11 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
17 Jan	37.8 °C	12 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 49
18 Jan	35.1 °C	13 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 50
19 Jan	34.3 °C	14 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
20 Jan	34.4 °C	13 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
21 Jan	34.0 °C	12 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
22 Jan	33.2 °C	10 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
23 Jan	32.3 °C	10 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
24 Jan	32.3 °C	11 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
25 Jan	33.0 °C	10 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
26 Jan	33.6 °C	13 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
27 Jan	35.0 °C	12 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
28 Jan	36.3 °C	11 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
29 Jan	35.9 °C	10 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
30 Jan	36.2 °C	10 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
31 Jan	34.6 °C	10 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
1 Feb	34.7 °C	11 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 50
2 Feb	35.3 °C	12 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 53
3 Feb	36.4 °C	12 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
4 Feb	36.3 °C	10 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
5 Feb	34.6 °C	23 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
6 Feb	34.7 °C	23 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
7 Feb	37.1 °C	14 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 50
8 Feb	37.9 °C	11 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
9 Feb	36.6 °C	11 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62
10 Feb	36.2 °C	11 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
11 Feb	35.1 °C	12 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
12 Feb	34.0 °C	11 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
13 Feb	35.3 °C	10 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
14 Feb	36.9 °C	10 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
15 Feb	37.7 °C	11 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
16 Feb	38.0 °C	14 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
17 Feb after	37.2 °C	23 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 49
18 Feb after	36.3 °C	28 %	30 km/h	0.4 mm	Very high 45
19 Feb after	36.4 °C	25 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 2 Jan 2020

After · 23 Feb 2020

Before After

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 · 10,894Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

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 9 January 2020 to 16 February 2020 (39 days). The perimeter dates it from 16 January 2020 to 9 February 2020.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 307,099 hectares (3,071.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 3 municipalities: Djema (155,767 ha, 4.3 %); Rafaï (141,516 ha, 5.1 %); Yalinga (11,904 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 38.0 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 62, 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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

What do you think is wrong?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

Your connection to the fire (optional) Email (optional)

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

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.

Where it burned