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Karimama fire, 15 November 2017 Karimama

Out · last detection 23 Nov 2017, 01:11 UTC

The fire started on 15 November 2017 in Karimama, Benin, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,057 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 94th largest in Alibori since 2016 (of 534 with a page). Number 21 in Benin in 2017, of 152.

Burnt area
3,057ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
15 Nov 2017 – 22 Nov 2017
Municipalities hit
1
communes
Started on
15 Nov
2017
Heat detections
80
in a single hotspot: 81 MW
Danger at start
45
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
1.2GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

23 Nov 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Nov22 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

1516171819202123

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
38km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

It had gone 40 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

18% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 563 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Karimama where it started
    3,075 ha reached on 15 Nov
    0.5 %

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)
15 Nov 36.6 °C 16 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
16 Nov 37.1 °C 16 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
17 Nov 38.1 °C 18 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
18 Nov 37.9 °C 18 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
19 Nov 37.7 °C 22 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Nov 35.3 °C 32 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 Nov 35.8 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
22 Nov 36.0 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
23 Nov after 35.3 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
24 Nov after 35.0 °C 9 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
25 Nov after 35.1 °C 11 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
26 Nov after 35.6 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
27 Nov after 34.9 °C 14 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
28 Nov after 34.7 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
29 Nov after 36.0 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
30 Nov after 35.9 °C 14 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
1 Dec after 36.7 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
2 Dec after 35.3 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Nov 2017
After · 29 Nov 2017

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 · 80Every 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 Karimama fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 November 2017 to 22 November 2017 (8 days). The perimeter dates it from 16 November 2017 to 20 November 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,057 hectares (30.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Karimama (3,075 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, 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.

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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.