Komodou fire, 20 January 2022 Komodou, Linko
The fire started on 20 January 2022 in Komodou, Guinea, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,627 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 88th largest in Kankan since 2016 (of 388 with a page). Number 25 in Guinea in 2022, of 107.
- Burnt area
- 3,627ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 10days
- 20 Jan 2022 – 29 Jan 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 20 Jan
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 91
- in a single hotspot: 43 MW
- Danger at start
- 42
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.0GW
- 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.
This area had burned before
71% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 570 ha in 2016, 125 ha in 2017, 1,281 ha in 2018, 309 ha in 2019, 1,022 ha in 2020, 1,128 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,590 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Komodou where it started2,807 ha reached on 19 Jan1.9 %
-
842 ha reached on 24 Jan0.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Jan | 32.4 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 21 Jan | 32.0 °C | 14 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 22 Jan | 32.6 °C | 14 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 23 Jan | 32.5 °C | 14 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 24 Jan | 32.6 °C | 15 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 25 Jan | 32.4 °C | 14 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 26 Jan | 32.7 °C | 15 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 27 Jan | 33.0 °C | 19 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 28 Jan | 33.8 °C | 25 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 29 Jan | 33.9 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 30 Jan after | 34.2 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 31 Jan after | 34.0 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 1 Feb after | 32.0 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 2 Feb after | 32.8 °C | 16 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 3 Feb after | 33.3 °C | 13 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 4 Feb after | 34.0 °C | 13 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 5 Feb after | 34.2 °C | 13 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 6 Feb after | 34.4 °C | 14 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 7 Feb after | 33.5 °C | 17 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 8 Feb after | 33.2 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
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 · 91Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Komodou fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 January 2022 and 29 January 2022: 10 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 3,627 hectares (36.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Komodou (2,807 ha, 1.9 %); Linko (842 ha, 0.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.9 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 33 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Guinea (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 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.