Gargando fire, 27 October 2025 Gargando
The fire started on 27 October 2025 in Gargando, Mali, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,627 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 9th largest in Tombouctou since 2016 (of 45 with a page). Number 59 in Mali in 2025, of 282.
We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but not yet its hotspots: NASA publishes the yearly hotspot archive only once the year closes. The page picks them up automatically when they are available.
- Burnt area
- 4,627ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 1day
- 27 Oct 2025 – 27 Oct 2025
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 27 Oct
- 2025
- Danger at start
- 63
- Extreme · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 28 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Gargando where it started4,654 ha2.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Oct | 40.2 °C | 8 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 28 Oct after | 40.3 °C | 6 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 29 Oct after | 40.1 °C | 8 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 30 Oct after | 39.6 °C | 5 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 31 Oct after | 39.2 °C | 11 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 1 Nov after | 40.2 °C | 7 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 2 Nov after | 39.7 °C | 9 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 69 |
| 3 Nov after | 38.7 °C | 9 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 4 Nov after | 37.6 °C | 11 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 5 Nov after | 37.9 °C | 8 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 6 Nov after | 38.4 °C | 8 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 28 October 2025 the air beside the fire reached 22 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 15: 1.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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)
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Gargando fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 27 October 2025 and 27 October 2025: 1 day 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 4,627 hectares (46.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Gargando (4,654 ha, 2.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 40.2 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 63, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mali (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 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.