Kompienga fire, 2 December 2023 Kompienga, Pama
The fire started on 2 December 2023 in Kompienga, Burkina Faso, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,033 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 68th largest in Goulmou since 2016 (of 529 with a page). Number 27 in Burkina Faso in 2023, of 261.
- Burnt area
- 3,033ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 2 Dec 2023 – 5 Dec 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- communes
- Started on
- 2 Dec
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 68
- in a single hotspot: 50 MW
- Danger at start
- 45
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 538MW
- 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 45 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
40% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 806 ha in 2016, 653 ha in 2018, 875 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,207 ha that had burned before.
- 875 ha Pama fire, December 2022 1,558 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 806 ha Pama fire, January 2016 1,241 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 653 ha Pama fire, December 2018 1,133 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Kompienga where it started1,960 ha reached on 2 Dec3.2 %
-
1,091 ha reached on 2 Dec0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Dec | 39.1 °C | 13 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 3 Dec | 39.0 °C | 11 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 4 Dec | 38.8 °C | 8 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 5 Dec | 38.9 °C | 10 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 6 Dec after | 37.9 °C | 15 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 7 Dec after | 37.8 °C | 9 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 8 Dec after | 37.7 °C | 7 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 9 Dec after | 37.7 °C | 9 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 10 Dec after | 37.3 °C | 9 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 11 Dec after | 36.5 °C | 11 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 12 Dec after | 33.6 °C | 14 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 13 Dec after | 33.1 °C | 13 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 14 Dec after | 34.6 °C | 16 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 15 Dec after | 34.8 °C | 15 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
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 · 68Every 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 Kompienga fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 December 2023 and 5 December 2023: 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 3,033 hectares (30.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kompienga (1,960 ha, 3.2 %); Pama (1,091 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.1 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 36 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 Burkina Faso (OCHA COD-AB). 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 OCHA COD-AB (Institut Geographique Burkina (IGB)) (Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-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.