Mamdi fire, July 2019 Mamdi
The fire started on 9 July 2019 in Mamdi, Chad, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 14,480 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 4th largest in Lac since 2016 (of 44 with a page). Number 2 in Chad in 2019, of 154.
- Burnt area
- 14,480ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 13days
- 9 Jul 2019 – 21 Jul 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- departments
- Started on
- 9 Jul
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 522
- in a single hotspot: 45 MW
- Danger at start
- 13
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.4GW
- 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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.3 mm on 26 Jul.
This area had burned before
76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 13,385 ha in 2016, 3,711 ha in 2017, 1,279 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 11,007 ha that had burned before.
- 2,311 ha Mamdi fire, July 2016 3,499 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,633 ha Mamdi fire, July 2017 2,727 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,448 ha Mamdi fire, May 2016 2,827 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,230 ha Darak fire, June 2016 2,783 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 576 ha Darak fire, May 2016 1,243 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 471 ha Kukawa fire, September 2017 2,137 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 166 ha Darak fire, June 2017 1,204 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 81 ha Mamdi fire, June 2016 2,002 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Mamdi where it started13,100 ha reached on 2 Jul2.7 %
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 Jul | 35.3 °C | 45 % | 32 km/h | 4.9 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 10 Jul | 36.4 °C | 44 % | 34 km/h | 2.3 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 11 Jul | 34.2 °C | 47 % | 51 km/h | 1.5 mm | High 25 |
| 12 Jul | 34.9 °C | 37 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 13 Jul | 38.2 °C | 32 % | 30 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 33 |
| 14 Jul | 37.3 °C | 30 % | 34 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 36 |
| 15 Jul | 36.9 °C | 38 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 16 Jul | 36.7 °C | 34 % | 34 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 38 |
| 17 Jul | 38.5 °C | 31 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 18 Jul | 37.2 °C | 38 % | 44 km/h | 1.4 mm | High 31 |
| 19 Jul | 33.6 °C | 45 % | 36 km/h | 3.8 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 20 Jul | 34.6 °C | 47 % | 36 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 24 |
| 21 Jul | 29.5 °C | 58 % | 32 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 22 Jul after | 34.8 °C | 40 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 23 Jul after | 36.2 °C | 39 % | 28 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 27 |
| 24 Jul after | 38.5 °C | 28 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 25 Jul after | 36.2 °C | 38 % | 44 km/h | 0.4 mm | Very high 45 |
| 26 Jul after | 36.4 °C | 42 % | 35 km/h | 3.3 mm | Moderate 17 |
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 · 522Every 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 Mamdi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 July 2019 and 21 July 2019: 13 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 14,480 hectares (144.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mamdi (13,100 ha, 2.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.5 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Chad (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 ADM2 (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.