Kandi fire, 28 November 2019 Kandi
The fire started on 28 November 2019 in Kandi, Benin, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,094 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 58th largest in Alibori since 2016 (of 534 with a page). Number 18 in Benin in 2019, of 120.
- Burnt area
- 4,094ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 28 Nov 2019 – 29 Nov 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 28 Nov
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 83
- in a single hotspot: 99 MW
- Danger at start
- 45
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.4GW
- 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 32 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
65% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 515 ha in 2016, 2,299 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,664 ha that had burned before.
- 2,011 ha Karimama fire, November 2017 9,325 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 506 ha Kandi fire, November 2016 1,015 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 288 ha Kandi fire, December 2017 5,024 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 9 ha Kandi fire, November 2016 2,553 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Kandi where it started4,124 ha reached on 28 Nov1.2 %
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 Nov | 37.1 °C | 17 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 29 Nov | 36.3 °C | 12 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 30 Nov after | 36.1 °C | 15 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 1 Dec after | 36.0 °C | 14 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 2 Dec after | 35.5 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 3 Dec after | 35.2 °C | 19 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 4 Dec after | 34.7 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 5 Dec after | 35.0 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 6 Dec after | 35.7 °C | 22 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 7 Dec after | 35.5 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 8 Dec after | 35.6 °C | 13 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 9 Dec after | 35.5 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
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 · 83Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 9,325 haKarimama19 November 2017 · 12 days · 7 km away
- 7,488 haKandi15 December 2021 · 12 days · 8 km away
- 8,479 haKarimama18 January 2026 · 11 days · 27 km away
- 8,379 haKarimama2 February 2026 · 7 days · 37 km away
- 15,140 haKarimama29 November 2021 · 8 days · 38 km away
- 8,466 haKarimama19 December 2024 · 10 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kandi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 November 2019 and 29 November 2019: 2 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 4,094 hectares (40.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Kandi (4,124 ha, 1.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.1 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, 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.
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 (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.