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Kataba1 fire, 18 March 2017 Kataba1

Out · last detection 1 Apr 2017, 14:23 UTC

The fire started on 18 March 2017 in Kataba1, Senegal, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,560 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 11th largest in Ziguinchor since 2016 (of 40 with a page). Number 15 in Senegal in 2017, of 75.

Burnt area
3,560ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
14days
18 Mar 2017 – 31 Mar 2017
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
18 Mar
2017
Heat detections
156
in a single hotspot: 50 MW
Danger at start
45
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
977MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

1 Apr 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Mar31 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

18192021222324252627282930311

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

40°high
43km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

17% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 617 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Kataba1 where it started
    3,583 ha reached on 18 Mar
    1.9 %

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)
18 Mar 32.9 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
19 Mar 33.9 °C 29 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Mar 35.3 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
21 Mar 38.5 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Mar 39.0 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
23 Mar 36.6 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
24 Mar 35.8 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
25 Mar 35.3 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
26 Mar 36.1 °C 28 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
27 Mar 38.1 °C 24 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
28 Mar 40.4 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
29 Mar 39.4 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
30 Mar 35.5 °C 36 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
31 Mar 36.8 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
1 Apr after 37.7 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
2 Apr after 36.1 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Apr after 34.8 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
4 Apr after 37.0 °C 28 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
5 Apr after 39.7 °C 24 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Apr after 39.6 °C 21 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
7 Apr after 38.9 °C 19 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
8 Apr after 38.3 °C 13 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
9 Apr after 37.0 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
10 Apr after 38.1 °C 21 % 36 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 · 11 Mar 2017
After · 7 Apr 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 · 156Every 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 Senegal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kataba1 fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 March 2017 and 31 March 2017: 14 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 3,560 hectares (35.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Kataba1 (3,583 ha, 1.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 40.4 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Senegal (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.

Emergency number: 18

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 18.

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 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.