Linko fire, 25 January 2026 Linko, Komodou
The fire started on 25 January 2026 in Linko, Guinea, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,385 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 31th largest in Kankan since 2016 (of 388 with a page). Number 23 in Guinea in 2026, of 269.
- Burnt area
- 6,385ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 25 Jan 2026 – 1 Feb 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 25 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 207
- in a single hotspot: 49 MW
- Danger at start
- 31
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.2GW
- 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 18 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
95% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,012 ha in 2016, 695 ha in 2017, 2,963 ha in 2018, 2,175 ha in 2019, 2,004 ha in 2020, 2,411 ha in 2021, 1,688 ha in 2022, 1,562 ha in 2023, 1,116 ha in 2024, 1,309 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,049 ha that had burned before.
- 1,642 ha Linko fire, January 2018 3,283 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,355 ha Linko fire, February 2021 2,876 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,006 ha Komodou fire, February 2021 3,880 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 957 ha Komodou fire, January 2022 3,627 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 897 ha Linko fire, February 2019 2,874 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 759 ha Linko fire, February 2020 3,597 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 581 ha Linko fire, February 2016 2,228 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 388 ha Linko fire, March 2019 3,199 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Linko where it started4,487 ha reached on 18 Jan2.9 %
-
1,940 ha reached on 20 Jan1.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Jan | 31.7 °C | 16 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 26 Jan | 32.4 °C | 19 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 27 Jan | 33.6 °C | 16 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 28 Jan | 33.5 °C | 14 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Jan | 34.0 °C | 14 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 30 Jan | 34.5 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 31 Jan | 35.3 °C | 15 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Feb | 34.4 °C | 26 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 2 Feb after | 35.1 °C | 23 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 3 Feb after | 29.2 °C | 46 % | 28 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 23 |
| 4 Feb after | 29.9 °C | 36 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 5 Feb after | 33.8 °C | 22 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 6 Feb after | 35.1 °C | 17 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 7 Feb after | 35.4 °C | 13 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 8 Feb after | 35.8 °C | 12 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 9 Feb after | 34.4 °C | 15 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 10 Feb after | 34.7 °C | 17 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 11 Feb after | 34.4 °C | 20 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 2 February 2026 the air beside the fire reached 114 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 67: 4.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 207Every 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 Linko fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 January 2026 and 1 February 2026: 8 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 6,385 hectares (63.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Linko (4,487 ha, 2.9 %); Komodou (1,940 ha, 1.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.3 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, class 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.