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Matéri fire, January 2019 Matéri, Tanguiéta

Out · last detection 24 Jan 2019, 01:04 UTC

The fire started on 19 January 2019 in Matéri, Benin, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,123 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 125th largest in Atakora since 2016 (of 523 with a page). Number 32 in Benin in 2019, of 120.

The power measured by the satellite is low (20.1 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
3,123ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
19 Jan 2019 – 24 Jan 2019
Municipalities hit
2
communes
Started on
19 Jan
2019
Heat detections
87
in a single hotspot: 20 MW
Danger at start
41
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
495MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Jan 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Jan24 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

192021222324

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

37°high
37km/h · peak gust
6%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

35% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,089 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Matéri where it started
    1,716 ha reached on 19 Jan
    1.0 %
  2. Tanguiéta
    1,427 ha reached on 19 Jan
    0.2 %

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)
19 Jan 34.3 °C 37 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Jan 35.2 °C 6 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
21 Jan 36.4 °C 9 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
22 Jan 36.6 °C 10 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
23 Jan 35.7 °C 7 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
24 Jan 36.3 °C 10 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
25 Jan after 37.0 °C 8 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
26 Jan after 37.0 °C 9 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
27 Jan after 36.6 °C 8 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
28 Jan after 36.4 °C 11 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
29 Jan after 36.7 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
30 Jan after 37.0 °C 3 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
31 Jan after 37.9 °C 3 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
1 Feb after 37.8 °C 4 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
2 Feb after 38.7 °C 8 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
3 Feb after 38.0 °C 18 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 12 Jan 2019
After · 31 Jan 2019

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 · 87Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Benin ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Matéri fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 January 2019 and 24 January 2019: 6 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 3,123 hectares (31.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Matéri (1,716 ha, 1.0 %); Tanguiéta (1,427 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Benin (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.

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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 (Public Domain). 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.