Lissa fire, February 2026 Lissa, Pladama-Ouaka
The fire started on 25 February 2026 in Lissa, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,549 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 17th largest in Ouaka since 2016 (of 34 with a page). Number 100 in Central African Republic in 2026, of 148.
- Burnt area
- 6,549ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 13days
- 25 Feb 2026 – 9 Mar 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 25 Feb
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 153
- in a single hotspot: 103 MW
- Danger at start
- 32
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 134MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.8 mm on 15 Mar.
This area had burned before
44% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,395 ha in 2016, 1,106 ha in 2019, 1,523 ha in 2020, 22 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,849 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Lissa where it started6,391 ha reached on 25 Feb3.7 %
-
202 ha reached on 26 Feb0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Feb | 35.9 °C | 14 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 26 Feb | 35.6 °C | 14 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 27 Feb | 36.8 °C | 14 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 28 Feb | 35.2 °C | 14 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 1 Mar | 35.1 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 2 Mar | 35.9 °C | 18 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 3 Mar | 36.6 °C | 28 % | 29 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 35 |
| 4 Mar | 35.1 °C | 30 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 5 Mar | 34.9 °C | 27 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 6 Mar | 36.4 °C | 24 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 7 Mar | 37.3 °C | 26 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 8 Mar | 38.3 °C | 16 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 9 Mar | 38.8 °C | 15 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 10 Mar after | 35.5 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 11 Mar after | 36.0 °C | 29 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 12 Mar after | 35.2 °C | 36 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 13 Mar after | 35.9 °C | 37 % | 35 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 37 |
| 14 Mar after | 37.8 °C | 33 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 15 Mar after | 32.6 °C | 47 % | 46 km/h | 2.8 mm | Moderate 13 |
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 1 March 2026 the air beside the fire reached 89 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 68: 4.6 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 · 153Every 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 Lissa fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 25 February 2026 to 9 March 2026 (13 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 February 2026 to 5 March 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,549 hectares (65.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Lissa (6,391 ha, 3.7 %); Pladama-Ouaka (202 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.8 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Central African Republic (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.