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Kérou fire, 15 November 2017 Kérou, Tanguiéta

Out · last detection 19 Nov 2017, 13:33 UTC

The fire started on 15 November 2017 in Kérou, Benin, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,812 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 146th largest in Atakora since 2016 (of 523 with a page). Number 28 in Benin in 2017, of 152.

Burnt area
2,812ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
15 Nov 2017 – 19 Nov 2017
Municipalities hit
2
communes
Started on
15 Nov
2017
Heat detections
78
in a single hotspot: 79 MW
Danger at start
40
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
1.2GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

19 Nov 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Nov19 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

1516171819

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
31km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 37 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

8% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 233 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Kérou where it started
    2,744 ha reached on 15 Nov
    0.7 %
  2. Tanguiéta
    89 ha reached on 15 Nov
    0.0 %

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)
15 Nov 36.7 °C 20 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
16 Nov 36.8 °C 18 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
17 Nov 37.7 °C 20 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
18 Nov 36.9 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
19 Nov 37.2 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
20 Nov after 35.0 °C 37 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
21 Nov after 35.2 °C 29 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
22 Nov after 37.0 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
23 Nov after 36.0 °C 22 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
24 Nov after 35.8 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 Nov after 35.6 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
26 Nov after 36.3 °C 10 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
27 Nov after 35.5 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
28 Nov after 35.3 °C 14 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
29 Nov after 36.6 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Nov 2017
After · 26 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 · 78Every 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 Kérou fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 November 2017 and 19 November 2017: 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 2,812 hectares (28.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kérou (2,744 ha, 0.7 %); Tanguiéta (89 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 31 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 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.