Koussané fire, March 2022 Koussané
The fire started on 9 March 2022 in Koussané, Mali, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,613 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 23th largest in Kayes since 2016 (of 333 with a page). Number 2 in Mali in 2022, of 67.
- Burnt area
- 6,613ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 9 Mar 2022 – 12 Mar 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 9 Mar
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 94
- in a single hotspot: 73 MW
- Danger at start
- 66
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.1GW
- 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
62% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 4,021 ha in 2016, 2,615 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,122 ha that had burned before.
- 2,485 ha Kankossa fire, April 2016 3,500 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,506 ha Kankossa fire, October 2016 3,454 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,176 ha Kankossa fire, October 2020 1,631 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 30 ha Kankossa fire, December 2016 4,489 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Koussané where it started3,572 ha reached on 10 Mar1.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Mar | 36.1 °C | 8 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 10 Mar | 37.9 °C | 10 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 11 Mar | 36.7 °C | 8 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 78 |
| 12 Mar | 37.1 °C | 9 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 77 |
| 13 Mar after | 38.5 °C | 9 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 14 Mar after | 38.9 °C | 8 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 15 Mar after | 38.8 °C | 9 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 16 Mar after | 35.4 °C | 16 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 17 Mar after | 36.4 °C | 14 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 18 Mar after | 37.5 °C | 15 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 19 Mar after | 39.9 °C | 14 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 20 Mar after | 40.4 °C | 13 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 21 Mar after | 41.7 °C | 12 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 22 Mar after | 41.3 °C | 11 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
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 · 94Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 5,802 haKoussanéJanuary 2026 · 4 days · 15 km away
- 15,354 haKankossa15 November 2025 · 6 days · 17 km away
- 5,599 haKoussanéOctober 2021 · 3 days · 20 km away
- 6,764 haKoussané17 March 2026 · 4 days · 22 km away
- 7,390 haKoussanéFebruary 2022 · 4 days · 36 km away
- 12,164 haKoussané26 February 2026 · 3 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Koussané fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 March 2022 and 12 March 2022: 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 6,613 hectares (66.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Koussané (3,572 ha, 1.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.9 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 78, class Very extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mali (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 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.