Manfran fire, January 2022 Manfran, Firawa, Tokounou
The fire started on 18 January 2022 in Manfran, Guinea, and satellites saw it burning for 30 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 40,177 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.
It is the 3th largest in Faranah since 2016 (of 208 with a page). The largest in Guinea in 2022, of 107.
- Burnt area
- 40,177ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 30days
- 18 Jan 2022 – 16 Feb 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 4
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 18 Jan
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 1,829
- in a single hotspot: 195 MW
- Danger at start
- 48
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 22.6GW
- 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
89% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 20,484 ha in 2016, 21,097 ha in 2017, 10,496 ha in 2018, 19,216 ha in 2019, 21,535 ha in 2020, 21,000 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 35,643 ha that had burned before.
- 19,537 ha Manfran fire, January 2017 70,029 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 14,205 ha Manfran fire, January 2021 26,206 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 13,155 ha Manfran fire, February 2019 26,689 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 9,825 ha Firawa fire, January 2016 25,026 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 8,656 ha Manfran fire, January 2020 19,542 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,108 ha Firawa fire, January 2020 11,561 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,934 ha Manfran fire, January 2016 7,141 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,208 ha Tokounou fire, January 2016 9,728 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Manfran where it started29,902 ha reached on 17 Jan34 %
-
6,202 ha reached on 20 Jan17 %
-
4,329 ha reached on 19 Jan3.8 %
-
0 ha reached on 19 Jan0.0 %
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 Jan | 34.5 °C | 9 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 19 Jan | 34.5 °C | 11 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 20 Jan | 33.9 °C | 15 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 21 Jan | 33.5 °C | 11 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 22 Jan | 34.2 °C | 11 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 23 Jan | 34.0 °C | 12 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 24 Jan | 34.3 °C | 12 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 25 Jan | 33.6 °C | 11 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 26 Jan | 34.3 °C | 13 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 27 Jan | 33.6 °C | 20 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 28 Jan | 34.9 °C | 24 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 29 Jan | 35.8 °C | 17 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 30 Jan | 36.3 °C | 9 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 31 Jan | 35.8 °C | 12 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 1 Feb | 33.6 °C | 14 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 2 Feb | 34.2 °C | 14 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 3 Feb | 34.5 °C | 12 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 4 Feb | 35.7 °C | 10 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 5 Feb | 36.1 °C | 11 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 6 Feb | 36.2 °C | 10 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 7 Feb | 35.0 °C | 13 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 8 Feb | 34.4 °C | 13 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 9 Feb | 35.6 °C | 13 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 10 Feb | 36.2 °C | 9 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 11 Feb | 36.1 °C | 7 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 12 Feb | 34.8 °C | 8 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 13 Feb | 35.8 °C | 8 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 14 Feb | 35.8 °C | 9 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 15 Feb | 35.2 °C | 10 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 16 Feb | 36.6 °C | 12 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 17 Feb after | 36.3 °C | 13 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 18 Feb after | 35.5 °C | 20 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 19 Feb after | 35.9 °C | 17 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 20 Feb after | 38.4 °C | 10 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 21 Feb after | 35.4 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.6 mm | Very high 42 |
| 22 Feb after | 36.9 °C | 20 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 23 Feb after | 36.4 °C | 26 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 24 Feb after | 34.2 °C | 43 % | 29 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 34 |
| 25 Feb after | 34.2 °C | 39 % | 29 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 34 |
| 26 Feb after | 37.3 °C | 19 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
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 · 1,829Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 25,026 haFirawaJanuary 2016 · 13 days · 8 km away
- 26,206 haManfran23 January 2021 · 9 days · 9 km away
- 26,689 haManfran5 February 2019 · 11 days · 13 km away
- 18,717 haFirawaFebruary 2026 · 12 days · 13 km away
- 19,542 haManfran24 January 2020 · 16 days · 14 km away
- 72,176 haAlbadariah7 January 2026 · 48 days · 28 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Manfran fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 January 2022 and 16 February 2022: 30 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 40,177 hectares (401.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 4 municipalities: Manfran (29,902 ha, 34 %); Firawa (6,202 ha, 17 %); Tokounou (4,329 ha, 3.8 %); Gbangbadou (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, class Extreme.
- 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.