Kandi fire, 20 December 2023 Kandi, Karimama
The fire started on 20 December 2023 in Kandi, Benin, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,160 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 407th largest in Alibori since 2016 (of 534 with a page). Number 82 in Benin in 2023, of 99.
The power measured by the satellite is low (13.5 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 1,160ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 20 Dec 2023 – 25 Dec 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- communes
- Started on
- 20 Dec
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 19
- in a single hotspot: 13 MW
- Energy released
- 122MW
- 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.
This area had burned before
95% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 82 ha in 2016, 1,010 ha in 2017, 820 ha in 2018, 39 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,099 ha that had burned before.
- 1,010 ha Karimama fire, November 2017 9,325 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 820 ha Kandi fire, December 2018 2,455 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 82 ha Malanville fire, November 2016 2,323 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 39 ha Malanville fire, December 2021 1,046 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Kandi where it started877 ha reached on 22 Dec0.2 %
-
290 ha reached on 23 Dec0.0 %
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.
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 · 19Every 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 · 2 km away
- 7,488 haKandi15 December 2021 · 12 days · 17 km away
- 8,479 haKarimama18 January 2026 · 11 days · 18 km away
- 8,379 haKarimama2 February 2026 · 7 days · 28 km away
- 8,099 haKarimama14 February 2021 · 11 days · 29 km away
- 15,140 haKarimama29 November 2021 · 8 days · 30 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kandi fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 December 2023 to 25 December 2023 (6 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 December 2023 to 24 December 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,160 hectares (11.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kandi (877 ha, 0.2 %); Karimama (290 ha, 0.0 %).
- 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.