Burned area
satellite only15,898ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- 22 Dec 2024 – 8 Jan 2025
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
CF · Central African Republic · –
Djema fire, 22 December 2024 Djema, Yalinga
Out · last detection 9 Jan 2025, 11:51 UTC
The fire started on 22 December 2024 in Djema, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 15,898 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 62th largest in Haut-Mbomou since 2016 (of 270 with a page). Number 15 in Central African Republic in 2024, of 87.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-24matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only18days
22 Dec 2024 to 8 Jan 2025: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 9 Jan 2025, 11:51 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only22 Dec 2024
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 22 Dec 2024
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only543
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 101 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 22 Dec 2024 – 8 Jan 2025
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only967MW
Total radiative power on 5 January 2025; hotspots that day: 82.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 5 Jan 2025
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model48.8FWI · very high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 55.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 22 Dec 2024, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model37.6°C · 11% RH
High of 37.6 °C and minimum humidity of 11% on 5 January 2025; gusts of 44 km/h on 1 January 2025.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 22 Dec 2024 – 8 Jan 2025
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
What was saved on 24 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 15,898 ha
- Dates
- 22 Dec 2024 – 8 Jan 2025
- Name
- Djema
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/djema-2024-12-6?v=2026-10-24A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire djema-2024-12-6.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-12-22 | 3 | 13 | 35.4 | 22.3 | 12 | 16.2 | 37.8 | 0 | 48.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-12-23 | 10 | 81 | 36 | 21.9 | 12 | 13.8 | 33.8 | 0 | 46.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-12-24 | 36 | 288 | 36 | 22.7 | 15 | 14.9 | 35.6 | 0 | 48.5 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-12-25 | 10 | 96 | 35.7 | 23.1 | 15 | 13 | 32.4 | 0 | 46.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-12-26 | 3 | 3 | 36.2 | 23.5 | 14 | 13.4 | 33.8 | 0 | 47.7 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-12-27 | 1 | 8 | 36.2 | 22.8 | 12 | 14.6 | 36.7 | 0 | 49.4 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-12-28 | 8 | 22 | 36.3 | 25.4 | 13 | 16.6 | 38.9 | 0 | 52.2 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-12-29 | 13 | 134 | 36.5 | 23.5 | 13 | 16 | 38.5 | 0 | 51.9 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-12-30 | 48 | 449 | 35.8 | 23.3 | 14 | 17.1 | 41.4 | 0 | 53.6 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-12-31 | 38 | 143 | 34.8 | 22.1 | 11 | 17.1 | 40 | 0 | 54 | extremo | 1 |
| 2025-01-01 | 26 | 181 | 33.8 | 20.6 | 10 | 19.5 | 44.3 | 0 | 57.5 | extremo | 1 |
| 2025-01-02 | 49 | 410 | 34.5 | 20.2 | 12 | 16.2 | 37.8 | 0 | 53.7 | extremo | 1 |
| 2025-01-03 | 39 | 229 | 35.5 | 20.9 | 12 | 13.5 | 33.1 | 0 | 50.9 | extremo | 1 |
| 2025-01-04 | 46 | 230 | 37.3 | 22.3 | 14 | 10.8 | 27 | 0 | 48.1 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2025-01-05 | 82 | 967 | 37.6 | 23.4 | 11 | 13 | 32 | 0 | 51 | extremo | 1 |
| 2025-01-06 | 90 | 241 | 36.3 | 23.8 | 11 | 18.9 | 43.2 | 0 | 58.7 | extremo | 1 |
| 2025-01-07 | 21 | 75 | 35.5 | 22.1 | 10 | 17.4 | 38.9 | 0 | 57.1 | extremo | 1 |
| 2025-01-08 | 19 | 50 | 35.3 | 21.3 | 12 | 14.1 | 34.2 | 0 | 53.3 | extremo | 1 |
| 2025-01-09 | 1 | 5 | 35.4 | 20.8 | 12 | 12.1 | 26.3 | 0 | 51.3 | extremo | 0 |
| 2025-01-10 | 0 | 0 | 35.9 | 22 | 12 | 12.9 | 32.4 | 0 | 52.5 | extremo | 0 |
| 2025-01-11 | 0 | 0 | 35.4 | 22.3 | 12 | 18.7 | 42.5 | 0 | 60.3 | extremo | 0 |
| 2025-01-12 | 0 | 0 | 34.6 | 21.3 | 12 | 17.4 | 39.2 | 0 | 58.8 | extremo | 0 |
| 2025-01-13 | 0 | 0 | 35.1 | 20.7 | 11 | 14.3 | 33.8 | 0 | 55.2 | extremo | 0 |
| 2025-01-14 | 0 | 0 | 35.9 | 21.8 | 11 | 13 | 33.1 | 0 | 53.9 | extremo | 0 |
| 2025-01-15 | 0 | 0 | 37.1 | 22.8 | 12 | 15.6 | 31.7 | 0 | 57.5 | extremo | 0 |
| 2025-01-16 | 0 | 0 | 37.4 | 24.8 | 12 | 16.5 | 39.2 | 0 | 58.9 | extremo | 0 |
| 2025-01-17 | 0 | 0 | 37.6 | 24.7 | 15 | 15.9 | 37.4 | 0 | 57.5 | extremo | 0 |
| 2025-01-18 | 0 | 0 | 37.9 | 26.1 | 15 | 13.4 | 33.1 | 0 | 54.5 | extremo | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: GWIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 15,898ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 18days
- 22 Dec 2024 – 8 Jan 2025
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 22 Dec
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 543
- in a single hotspot: 101 MW
- Danger at start
- 49
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 191MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
22 Dec8 Jan
9 Jan 2025
How it evolved, day by day
22 Dec
26 Dec
30 Dec
5 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
44km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity
It had gone 55 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
96% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 9,749 ha in 2016, 8,549 ha in 2017, 7,949 ha in 2018, 644 ha in 2019, 4,650 ha in 2020, 6,443 ha in 2021, 5,750 ha in 2022, 3,785 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 15,303 ha that had burned before.
- 7,540 ha Yalinga fire, December 2017 42,902 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,117 ha Djema fire, December 2018 111,633 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,294 ha Djema fire, December 2016 39,650 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,277 ha Djema fire, January 2020 12,077 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,590 ha Djema fire, January 2021 6,676 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,603 ha Yalinga fire, January 2016 12,226 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 273 ha Yalinga fire, February 2022 17,142 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 122 ha Djema fire, January 2020 45,397 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Djema where it started16,006 ha reached on 22 Dec0.4 %
-
0 ha0.0 %
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 2025Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
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)
Started with Very dry air: 42 % of the area in Central African Republic
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Dec | 35.4 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 23 Dec | 36.0 °C | 12 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 24 Dec | 36.0 °C | 15 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 25 Dec | 35.7 °C | 15 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 26 Dec | 36.2 °C | 14 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 27 Dec | 36.2 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 28 Dec | 36.3 °C | 13 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 29 Dec | 36.5 °C | 13 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 30 Dec | 35.8 °C | 14 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 31 Dec | 34.8 °C | 11 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 1 Jan | 33.8 °C | 10 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 2 Jan | 34.5 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 3 Jan | 35.5 °C | 12 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 4 Jan | 37.3 °C | 14 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 5 Jan | 37.6 °C | 11 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 6 Jan | 36.3 °C | 11 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 7 Jan | 35.5 °C | 10 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 8 Jan | 35.3 °C | 12 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 9 Jan after | 35.4 °C | 12 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 10 Jan after | 35.9 °C | 12 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 11 Jan after | 35.4 °C | 12 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 12 Jan after | 34.6 °C | 12 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 13 Jan after | 35.1 °C | 11 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 14 Jan after | 35.9 °C | 11 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 15 Jan after | 37.1 °C | 12 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 16 Jan after | 37.4 °C | 12 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 17 Jan after | 37.6 °C | 15 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 18 Jan after | 37.9 °C | 15 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 48.8, a minimum humidity of 12% and 55 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 18.
FWI at the start
48.8
Minimum humidity
12 %
Days without rain
55
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Djema fire, 22 December 2024
15,898 ha
18 days
FWI 48.8
Min. humidity 12 %
Yalinga fire, January 2024
13,149 ha
20 days
FWI 49.0
Min. humidity 12 %
76 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Yalinga fire, January 2018
29,592 ha
26 days
FWI 49.8
Min. humidity 12 %
81 km away, in 2018
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.4 mm on 17 Feb.
Djema fire, January 2022
30,095 ha
19 days
FWI 49.8
Min. humidity 12 %
34 km away, in 2022
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Yalinga fire, January 2018
5,002 ha
11 days
FWI 49.2
Min. humidity 12 %
49 km away, in 2018
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Djema fire, January 2023
28,303 ha
21 days
FWI 48.6
Min. humidity 13 %
34 km away, in 2023
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
What happened to them
- 17 days
- median duration
- 12,973 ha
- median area
- 56 %
- went past 10,000 ha
- 1.3 mm
- rain at the end (median; 2 of 18 had it)
It burned an area similar to its twins (15,898 ha against a median of 12,973 ha) and lasted 18 days, against 17 days.
In 16 of 18, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.3 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
—first rain
—no rain in ten days
44km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 8 Jan, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 2 of 18, with a median of 1.3 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
- Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
- Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
- Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
- Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
- They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 15 Dec 2024
After · 15 Jan 2025
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 3 January 2025 the air beside the fire reached 87 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 53: 3.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak87 µg/m³
Days over the guideline23 days
PM10113 µg/m³
Optical depth1.13
WHO 15
20 Dec25 Dec30 Dec4 Jan9 Jan
Good
Fair
Moderate
Poor
Very poor
Extremely poor
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 543Every 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
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Djema fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 December 2024 to 8 January 2025 (18 days). The perimeter dates it from 28 December 2024 to 8 January 2025.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 15,898 hectares (159.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Djema (16,006 ha, 0.4 %); Yalinga (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.6 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 59, 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.
- How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
- Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 18. Their median duration was 17 days and their median area 12,973 ha; 56 % went past 10,000 ha. In 16 of 18, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.3 mm.
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 With cross-checks and a citable version
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 28 December 2024 to 8 January 2025. 543 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 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.