Koussané fire, November 2023 Koussané
The fire started on 18 November 2023 in Koussané, Mali, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,290 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 25th largest in Kayes since 2016 (of 337 with a page). Number 4 in Mali in 2023, of 56.
The power measured by the satellite is low (26.7 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 6,290ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 18 Nov 2023 – 19 Nov 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 18 Nov
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 214
- in a single hotspot: 27 MW
- Danger at start
- 54
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.3GW
- 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 52 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
47% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,121 ha in 2017, 1,055 ha in 2020, 1,502 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,979 ha that had burned before.
- 1,121 ha Koussané fire, November 2017 5,318 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,055 ha Koussané fire, October 2020 2,245 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 629 ha Koussané fire, January 2022 2,273 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Koussané where it started6,324 ha reached on 18 Nov2.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Nov | 39.5 °C | 22 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 19 Nov | 38.3 °C | 17 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 20 Nov after | 37.8 °C | 17 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 21 Nov after | 37.7 °C | 11 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 22 Nov after | 36.6 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 23 Nov after | 36.4 °C | 12 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 24 Nov after | 35.6 °C | 13 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 25 Nov after | 36.2 °C | 14 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 26 Nov after | 35.3 °C | 18 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 27 Nov after | 37.0 °C | 16 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 28 Nov after | 37.1 °C | 14 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 29 Nov after | 37.2 °C | 14 % | 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 · 214Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 5,318 haKoussanéNovember 2017 · 3 days · 6 km away
- 6,764 haKoussané17 March 2026 · 4 days · 24 km away
- 7,542 haKoussanéOctober 2026 · 5 days · 26 km away
- 5,599 haKoussanéOctober 2021 · 3 days · 27 km away
- 7,390 haKoussanéFebruary 2022 · 4 days · 35 km away
- 5,574 haKankossa2 November 2025 · 3 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Koussané fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 November 2023 and 19 November 2023: 2 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 6,290 hectares (62.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Koussané (6,324 ha, 2.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.5 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, class 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.