Kandi fire, 11 January 2026 Kandi, Karimama
The fire started on 11 January 2026 in Kandi, Benin, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,662 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 72th largest in Alibori since 2016 (of 534 with a page). Number 17 in Benin in 2026, of 99.
The power measured by the satellite is low (16.8 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
- 3,662ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 11 Jan 2026 – 17 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- communes
- Started on
- 11 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 68
- in a single hotspot: 17 MW
- Danger at start
- 48
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 279MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
83% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,751 ha in 2017, 1,012 ha in 2018, 24 ha in 2021, 1,796 ha in 2023, 366 ha in 2024, 537 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,052 ha that had burned before.
- 1,547 ha Kandi fire, December 2017 3,300 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,225 ha Kandi fire, December 2023 3,833 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,012 ha Kandi fire, December 2018 1,206 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 366 ha Kandi fire, November 2024 2,897 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 346 ha Kandi fire, November 2025 1,090 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 305 ha Kandi fire, January 2023 1,694 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 149 ha Kandi fire, January 2023 5,163 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 137 ha Kandi fire, December 2025 1,451 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Kandi where it started3,292 ha reached on 11 Jan0.9 %
-
394 ha reached on 11 Jan0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Jan | 32.6 °C | 18 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 12 Jan | 34.6 °C | 19 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 13 Jan | 35.2 °C | 17 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 14 Jan | 34.3 °C | 17 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 15 Jan | 34.2 °C | 17 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 16 Jan | 34.0 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 17 Jan | 35.3 °C | 18 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 18 Jan after | 35.9 °C | 20 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 19 Jan after | 36.3 °C | 13 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 20 Jan after | 34.1 °C | 13 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 21 Jan after | 31.7 °C | 18 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 22 Jan after | 30.9 °C | 13 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 23 Jan after | 32.7 °C | 10 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 24 Jan after | 35.1 °C | 12 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 25 Jan after | 34.8 °C | 9 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 26 Jan after | 33.7 °C | 11 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 27 Jan after | 34.1 °C | 12 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
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 11 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 126 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 103: 6.8 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)
Detections table · 68Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 7,488 haKandi15 December 2021 · 12 days · 10 km away
- 5,163 haKandi8 January 2023 · 8 days · 10 km away
- 9,325 haKarimama19 November 2017 · 12 days · 17 km away
- 5,149 haKarimama18 December 2021 · 8 days · 20 km away
- 6,530 haKarimama17 February 2026 · 7 days · 25 km away
- 8,479 haKarimama18 January 2026 · 11 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kandi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 January 2026 and 17 January 2026: 7 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 3,662 hectares (36.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kandi (3,292 ha, 0.9 %); Karimama (394 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.3 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, 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.