Kasunko fire, 24 January 2026 Kasunko, Tambakha
The fire started on 24 January 2026 in Kasunko, Sierra Leone, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,058 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 12th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 1112 with a page). Number 7 in Sierra Leone in 2026, of 305.
The power measured by the satellite is low (21.1 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
- 6,058ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 24 Jan 2026 – 28 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- chiefdoms
- Started on
- 24 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 131
- in a single hotspot: 21 MW
- Danger at start
- 36
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 656MW
- 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. Rain came after the fire: 1.5 mm on 4 Feb.
This area had burned before
92% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,438 ha in 2016, 3,036 ha in 2017, 3,247 ha in 2018, 3,004 ha in 2019, 912 ha in 2020, 41 ha in 2023, 478 ha in 2024, 5 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,599 ha that had burned before.
- 2,867 ha Kasunko fire, January 2019 4,768 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,786 ha Kasunko fire, January 2017 3,908 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,766 ha Kasunko fire, January 2018 2,706 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,482 ha Kasunko fire, January 2018 2,092 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,158 ha Kasunko fire, January 2016 1,697 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 912 ha Kasunko fire, January 2020 1,028 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 478 ha Kasunko fire, April 2024 1,200 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 280 ha Wara Wara Bafod fire, January 2016 3,353 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Kasunko where it started6,082 ha reached on 24 Jan6.4 %
-
17 ha reached on 26 Jan0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Jan | 36.1 °C | 19 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 25 Jan | 35.0 °C | 17 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 26 Jan | 36.6 °C | 15 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 27 Jan | 36.5 °C | 14 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 28 Jan | 35.1 °C | 25 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 29 Jan after | 36.1 °C | 17 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 30 Jan after | 36.6 °C | 24 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 31 Jan after | 35.8 °C | 29 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 1 Feb after | 34.8 °C | 29 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 2 Feb after | 36.5 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 3 Feb after | 34.6 °C | 32 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 4 Feb after | 29.3 °C | 51 % | 22 km/h | 1.5 mm | Moderate 13 |
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 28 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 140 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 98: 6.5 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 · 131Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 4,768 haKasunkoJanuary 2019 · 9 days · 4 km away
- 4,443 haKasunko3 February 2017 · 7 days · 9 km away
- 4,232 haTambakha31 January 2017 · 8 days · 14 km away
- 4,462 haTambakha29 January 2016 · 5 days · 20 km away
- 8,119 haTambakha26 January 2016 · 10 days · 22 km away
- 5,742 haTambakha11 February 2019 · 14 days · 22 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kasunko fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 24 January 2026 and 28 January 2026: 5 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 6,058 hectares (60.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kasunko (6,082 ha, 6.4 %); Tambakha (17 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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.