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Kontagora fire, 18 December 2025 Mariga, Kontagora, Mashegu

Out · last detection 2 Feb 2026, 00:58 UTC

The fire started on 18 December 2025 in Kontagora, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 46 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 94,992 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the largest fire in Niger since 2016 (of 271 with a page). The largest in Nigeria in 2025, of 294.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Mariga · 2020Mariga · 2023Mariga · 2024Kontagora · 2024

Burnt area
94,992ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
46days
18 Dec 2025 – 1 Feb 2026
Municipalities hit
3
local government areas
Started on
18 Dec
2025
Heat detections
3,897
in a single hotspot: 214 MW
Danger at start
38
High · FWI index
Average daily power
598MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Dec1 Feb
2 Feb 2026

How it evolved, day by day

18 Dec 2025 · 27 MW · 5 20 Dec 2025 · 62 MW · 4 21 Dec 2025 · 15 MW · 8 23 Dec 2025 · 171 MW · 17 24 Dec 2025 · 117 MW · 18 25 Dec 2025 · 176 MW · 34 26 Dec 2025 · 651 MW · 73 27 Dec 2025 · 15 MW · 8 28 Dec 2025 · 429 MW · 30 29 Dec 2025 · 80 MW · 16 30 Dec 2025 · 213 MW · 27 31 Dec 2025 · 248 MW · 42 1 Jan 2026 · 521 MW · 71 2 Jan 2026 · 1,455 MW · 159 3 Jan 2026 · 922 MW · 142 4 Jan 2026 · 1,005 MW · 83 5 Jan 2026 · 2,155 MW · 160 6 Jan 2026 · 2,753 MW · 297 7 Jan 2026 · 1,408 MW · 160 8 Jan 2026 · 561 MW · 80 9 Jan 2026 · 948 MW · 257 10 Jan 2026 · 1,465 MW · 193 11 Jan 2026 · 517 MW · 96 12 Jan 2026 · 807 MW · 162 13 Jan 2026 · 2,406 MW · 236 14 Jan 2026 · 928 MW · 243 15 Jan 2026 · 609 MW · 119 16 Jan 2026 · 157 MW · 39 17 Jan 2026 · 767 MW · 102 18 Jan 2026 · 274 MW · 71 19 Jan 2026 · 821 MW · 146 20 Jan 2026 · 910 MW · 171 21 Jan 2026 · 369 MW · 90 22 Jan 2026 · 46 MW · 16 23 Jan 2026 · 92 MW · 26 24 Jan 2026 · 916 MW · 148 25 Jan 2026 · 680 MW · 104 26 Jan 2026 · 637 MW · 119 27 Jan 2026 · 176 MW · 44 28 Jan 2026 · 67 MW · 20 29 Jan 2026 · 231 MW · 27 30 Jan 2026 · 26 MW · 8 31 Jan 2026 · 47 MW · 10 1 Feb 2026 · 49 MW · 15 2 Feb 2026 · 1 MW · 1
18 Dec 27 Dec 3 Jan 6 Jan 10 Jan 17 Jan 24 Jan 31 Jan

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
38km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

81% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8,096 ha in 2016, 164 ha in 2018, 6,828 ha in 2020, 39,494 ha in 2021, 32,387 ha in 2022, 26,663 ha in 2023, 31,206 ha in 2024, 9,527 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 76,826 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 60% of the area of London (950 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Mariga
    63,776 ha reached on 23 Dec
    10 %
  2. Kontagora where it started
    31,483 ha reached on 18 Dec
    17 %
  3. Mashegu
    305 ha reached on 9 Jan
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area111 ha
Residents≈ 16,000

Inside the perimeter there were about 111 hectares of built-up land and about 16,000 residents (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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 Dec 34.5 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
19 Dec 34.6 °C 31 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
20 Dec 35.5 °C 26 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
21 Dec 35.7 °C 22 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
22 Dec 35.3 °C 21 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
23 Dec 35.7 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
24 Dec 35.3 °C 33 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
25 Dec 36.5 °C 30 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
26 Dec 36.9 °C 26 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
27 Dec 36.6 °C 25 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Dec 36.7 °C 24 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
29 Dec 37.3 °C 25 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Dec 35.1 °C 33 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Dec 37.2 °C 24 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
1 Jan 38.3 °C 23 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
2 Jan 37.3 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Jan 36.0 °C 26 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
4 Jan 36.4 °C 20 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
5 Jan 36.6 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
6 Jan 37.0 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
7 Jan 34.8 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
8 Jan 34.7 °C 31 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
9 Jan 35.7 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
10 Jan 33.6 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
11 Jan 33.5 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
12 Jan 33.6 °C 23 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
13 Jan 36.3 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
14 Jan 33.7 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
15 Jan 34.0 °C 25 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Jan 35.7 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
17 Jan 35.4 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
18 Jan 34.8 °C 30 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
19 Jan 34.7 °C 32 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
20 Jan 35.3 °C 14 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
21 Jan 33.9 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
22 Jan 32.3 °C 18 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
23 Jan 35.1 °C 18 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Jan 35.6 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
25 Jan 36.6 °C 19 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Jan 36.1 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
27 Jan 35.1 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
28 Jan 34.9 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
29 Jan 36.0 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
30 Jan 35.8 °C 17 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
31 Jan 36.3 °C 22 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
1 Feb 36.2 °C 25 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
2 Feb after 37.8 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
3 Feb after 35.5 °C 24 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
4 Feb after 39.2 °C 13 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Feb after 38.2 °C 14 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Feb after 35.8 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
7 Feb after 36.3 °C 33 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
8 Feb after 37.4 °C 21 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
9 Feb after 36.0 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
10 Feb after 34.9 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
11 Feb after 36.6 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 34

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 Dec 2025
After · 8 Feb 2026

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 · Copernicus

On 10 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 189 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 131: 8.8 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak189 µg/m³
Days over the guideline37 days
PM10758 µg/m³
Optical depth1.46
23242526272829303112345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 3,897Every 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 Nigeria ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kontagora fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 18 December 2025 to 1 February 2026 (46 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 December 2025 to 25 January 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 94,992 hectares (949.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Mariga (63,776 ha, 10 %); Kontagora (31,483 ha, 17 %); Mashegu (305 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.3 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 38 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 Nigeria (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: 112 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 25 January 2026 → 1 February 2026.
  2. Start date: 25 December 2025 → 18 December 2025.

RSS Changes to this page

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 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 10 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 25 December 2025 to 25 January 2026. 3,897 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (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.