Fakai fire, December 2023 Fakai
The fire started on 15 December 2023 in Fakai, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,813 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 13th largest in Kebbi since 2016 (of 42 with a page). Number 40 in Nigeria in 2023, of 161.
- Burnt area
- 3,813ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 15 Dec 2023 – 25 Dec 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- local government areas
- Started on
- 15 Dec
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 171
- in a single hotspot: 44 MW
- Danger at start
- 52
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.2GW
- 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 58 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: 1,614 ha in 2016, 2,167 ha in 2017, 1,261 ha in 2018, 1,082 ha in 2020, 1,201 ha in 2021, 61 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,082 ha that had burned before.
- 1,261 ha Fakai fire, December 2018 2,288 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,201 ha Fakai fire, January 2021 2,949 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 594 ha Fakai fire, December 2016 2,207 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Fakai where it started3,838 ha reached on 15 Dec2.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Dec | 33.6 °C | 16 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 16 Dec | 34.7 °C | 14 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 17 Dec | 34.9 °C | 12 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 18 Dec | 34.8 °C | 12 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 19 Dec | 34.2 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 20 Dec | 33.7 °C | 15 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 21 Dec | 34.6 °C | 16 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 22 Dec | 34.7 °C | 17 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 23 Dec | 34.4 °C | 16 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 24 Dec | 33.1 °C | 15 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 25 Dec | 32.6 °C | 11 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 26 Dec after | 31.2 °C | 14 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 27 Dec after | 32.0 °C | 14 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 28 Dec after | 33.4 °C | 15 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 29 Dec after | 33.9 °C | 15 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 30 Dec after | 34.8 °C | 14 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 31 Dec after | 34.8 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 1 Jan after | 35.4 °C | 16 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 2 Jan after | 35.8 °C | 15 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 3 Jan after | 35.6 °C | 15 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 4 Jan after | 36.3 °C | 13 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
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 · 171Every 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 Fakai fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 December 2023 and 25 December 2023: 11 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 3,813 hectares (38.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Fakai (3,838 ha, 2.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.9 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Nigeria (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: 112
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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.