Kasunko fire, 23 January 2016 Kasunko, Sanda Loko, Sella Limba
The fire started on 23 January 2016 in Kasunko, Sierra Leone, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,893 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 103th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 1112 with a page). Number 25 in Sierra Leone in 2016, of 208.
The power measured by the satellite is low (23.6 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
- 2,893ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 23 Jan 2016 – 26 Jan 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- chiefdoms
- Started on
- 23 Jan
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 93
- in a single hotspot: 24 MW
- Danger at start
- 41
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 574MW
- 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 17 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Kasunko where it started2,351 ha reached on 23 Jan2.5 %
-
555 ha reached on 23 Jan0.9 %
-
6 ha0.0 %
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.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Jan | 36.1 °C | 18 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 24 Jan | 37.1 °C | 15 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 25 Jan | 35.0 °C | 30 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 26 Jan | 35.8 °C | 21 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 27 Jan after | 34.2 °C | 16 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 28 Jan after | 35.3 °C | 12 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 29 Jan after | 36.4 °C | 14 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 30 Jan after | 36.3 °C | 14 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 31 Jan after | 34.7 °C | 18 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 1 Feb after | 36.5 °C | 17 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 2 Feb after | 35.2 °C | 16 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 3 Feb after | 36.0 °C | 15 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 4 Feb after | 35.8 °C | 25 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 5 Feb after | 37.4 °C | 16 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
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 · 93Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 6,058 haKasunko24 January 2026 · 5 days · 12 km away
- 4,768 haKasunkoJanuary 2019 · 9 days · 16 km away
- 4,443 haKasunko3 February 2017 · 7 days · 19 km away
- 5,742 haTambakha11 February 2019 · 14 days · 20 km away
- 4,462 haTambakha29 January 2016 · 5 days · 23 km away
- 8,119 haTambakha26 January 2016 · 10 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kasunko fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 January 2016 and 26 January 2016: 4 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 2,893 hectares (28.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Kasunko (2,351 ha, 2.5 %); Sanda Loko (555 ha, 0.9 %); Sella Limba (6 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.1 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Sierra Leone (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 ADM3 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.