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Kandi fire, 18 November 2016 Kandi

Out · last detection 21 Nov 2016, 13:39 UTC

The fire started on 18 November 2016 in Kandi, Benin, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,738 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 114th largest in Alibori since 2016 (of 534 with a page). Number 15 in Benin in 2016, of 129.

Burnt area
2,738ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
18 Nov 2016 – 21 Nov 2016
Municipalities hit
1
communes
Started on
18 Nov
2016
Heat detections
77
in a single hotspot: 71 MW
Danger at start
41
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
1.3GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

21 Nov 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Nov21 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

182021

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
27km/h · peak gust
20%lowest humidity

It had gone 34 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

  1. Kandi where it started
    2,756 ha reached on 18 Nov
    0.8 %

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)
18 Nov 36.6 °C 23 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
19 Nov 37.0 °C 25 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
20 Nov 37.8 °C 20 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
21 Nov 36.4 °C 20 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
22 Nov after 36.4 °C 25 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
23 Nov after 37.9 °C 21 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
24 Nov after 38.1 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
25 Nov after 38.3 °C 16 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Nov after 38.3 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Nov after 37.1 °C 23 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
28 Nov after 37.5 °C 22 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Nov after 37.9 °C 19 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 Nov after 37.5 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Dec after 38.1 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 Nov 2016
After · 28 Nov 2016

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 · 77Every 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 Benin ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kandi fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 November 2016 and 21 November 2016: 4 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 2,738 hectares (27.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Kandi (2,756 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.8 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 27 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Benin (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.

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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 (Public Domain). 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.