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Fafacourou fire, January 2017 Fafacourou, Ndorna, Nianing

Out · last detection 6 Feb 2017, 14:37 UTC

The fire started on 29 January 2017 in Fafacourou, Senegal, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,969 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 70th largest in Kolda since 2016 (of 195 with a page). Number 22 in Senegal in 2017, of 75.

The power measured by the satellite is low (18.2 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
2,969ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
29 Jan 2017 – 5 Feb 2017
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
29 Jan
2017
Heat detections
106
in a single hotspot: 18 MW
Danger at start
55
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
436MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

6 Feb 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 29 Jan5 Feb

How it evolved, day by day

293031123456

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
49km/h · peak gust
8%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

17% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 508 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Fafacourou where it started
    2,112 ha reached on 29 Jan
    2.4 %
  2. Ndorna
    488 ha reached on 2 Feb
    0.2 %
  3. Nianing
    387 ha reached on 31 Jan
    0.2 %

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)
29 Jan 36.8 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
30 Jan 37.7 °C 11 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
31 Jan 36.2 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
1 Feb 35.6 °C 8 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
2 Feb 34.4 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
3 Feb 35.3 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
4 Feb 36.4 °C 10 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
5 Feb 35.7 °C 10 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
6 Feb after 36.9 °C 9 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
7 Feb after 37.6 °C 10 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
8 Feb after 36.9 °C 10 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
9 Feb after 36.9 °C 7 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
10 Feb after 37.1 °C 8 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
11 Feb after 35.0 °C 12 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
12 Feb after 35.9 °C 11 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
13 Feb after 34.1 °C 16 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
14 Feb after 37.5 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm Extreme 57
15 Feb after 38.7 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 22 Jan 2017
After · 12 Feb 2017

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 · 106Every 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 Senegal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Fafacourou fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 29 January 2017 and 5 February 2017: 8 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,969 hectares (29.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Fafacourou (2,112 ha, 2.4 %); Ndorna (488 ha, 0.2 %); Nianing (387 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 70, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Senegal (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.

Emergency number: 18

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 18.

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.