Firawa fire, January 2020 Manfran, Firawa
The fire started on 28 January 2020 in Firawa, Guinea, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,561 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 13th largest in Faranah since 2016 (of 208 with a page). Number 4 in Guinea in 2020, of 120.
- Burnt area
- 11,561ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 10days
- 28 Jan 2020 – 6 Feb 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 28 Jan
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 467
- in a single hotspot: 79 MW
- Danger at start
- 28
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 390MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
93% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8,166 ha in 2016, 6,547 ha in 2017, 4,419 ha in 2018, 6,371 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 10,773 ha that had burned before.
- 8,166 ha Firawa fire, January 2016 25,026 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,547 ha Manfran fire, January 2017 70,029 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,668 ha Manfran fire, February 2019 26,689 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,369 ha Firawa fire, January 2018 6,245 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 972 ha Manfran fire, January 2018 2,507 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
10,079 ha reached on 28 Jan12 %
-
Firawa where it started1,554 ha reached on 26 Jan4.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan | 33.2 °C | 27 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 29 Jan | 34.5 °C | 20 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 30 Jan | 35.3 °C | 14 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 31 Jan | 35.9 °C | 13 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 1 Feb | 35.5 °C | 17 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 2 Feb | 35.6 °C | 17 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 3 Feb | 34.6 °C | 15 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 4 Feb | 34.9 °C | 13 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 5 Feb | 34.9 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 6 Feb | 35.1 °C | 15 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 7 Feb after | 35.5 °C | 15 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 8 Feb after | 35.0 °C | 13 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 9 Feb after | 35.2 °C | 14 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 10 Feb after | 34.6 °C | 25 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 11 Feb after | 34.4 °C | 30 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 12 Feb after | 34.5 °C | 15 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 13 Feb after | 36.0 °C | 11 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 14 Feb after | 36.0 °C | 9 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 15 Feb after | 36.7 °C | 11 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 16 Feb after | 37.5 °C | 9 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
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 · 467Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 40,177 haManfranJanuary 2022 · 30 days · 6 km away
- 26,689 haManfran5 February 2019 · 11 days · 7 km away
- 25,026 haFirawaJanuary 2016 · 13 days · 9 km away
- 26,206 haManfran23 January 2021 · 9 days · 15 km away
- 19,542 haManfran24 January 2020 · 16 days · 18 km away
- 72,176 haAlbadariah7 January 2026 · 48 days · 33 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Firawa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 January 2020 and 6 February 2020: 10 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 11,561 hectares (115.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Manfran (10,079 ha, 12 %); Firawa (1,554 ha, 4.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Guinea (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.