Kandi fire, 6 December 2023 Kandi
The fire started on 6 December 2023 in Kandi, Benin, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,833 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 70th largest in Alibori since 2016 (of 534 with a page). Number 15 in Benin in 2023, of 99.
- Burnt area
- 3,833ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 6 Dec 2023 – 8 Dec 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 6 Dec
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 84
- in a single hotspot: 226 MW
- Danger at start
- 55
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.1GW
- 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 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
61% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 469 ha in 2016, 1,744 ha in 2017, 3 ha in 2018, 473 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,338 ha that had burned before.
- 1,214 ha Kandi fire, December 2017 3,300 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 500 ha Kandi fire, December 2017 1,133 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 473 ha Kandi fire, December 2021 7,488 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 288 ha Kandi fire, November 2016 2,738 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 140 ha Kandi fire, November 2016 1,161 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 41 ha Kandi fire, November 2016 1,759 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 24 ha Kandi fire, December 2017 4,502 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6 ha Kandi fire, December 2017 5,024 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Kandi where it started3,859 ha reached on 6 Dec1.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Dec | 36.5 °C | 15 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 7 Dec | 35.6 °C | 10 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 8 Dec | 36.0 °C | 11 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 9 Dec after | 35.3 °C | 9 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 10 Dec after | 35.3 °C | 10 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 11 Dec after | 33.8 °C | 14 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 12 Dec after | 31.0 °C | 17 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 13 Dec after | 31.3 °C | 17 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 14 Dec after | 32.2 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 15 Dec after | 33.5 °C | 18 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 16 Dec after | 34.4 °C | 14 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 17 Dec after | 34.6 °C | 13 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 18 Dec after | 34.5 °C | 12 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
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 · 84Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 5,163 haKandi8 January 2023 · 8 days · 5 km away
- 7,488 haKandi15 December 2021 · 12 days · 9 km away
- 9,325 haKarimama19 November 2017 · 12 days · 20 km away
- 5,149 haKarimama18 December 2021 · 8 days · 24 km away
- 6,530 haKarimama17 February 2026 · 7 days · 29 km away
- 8,479 haKarimama18 January 2026 · 11 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kandi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 December 2023 and 8 December 2023: 3 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 3,833 hectares (38.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Kandi (3,859 ha, 1.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.5 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 56, class Extreme.
- 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.