Molota fire, April 2023 Molota, Friguiagbé
The fire started on 15 April 2023 in Molota, Guinea, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,030 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 104th largest in Kindia since 2016 (of 242 with a page). Number 18 in Guinea in 2023, of 79.
- Burnt area
- 3,030ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 15 Apr 2023 – 16 Apr 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 15 Apr
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 86
- in a single hotspot: 380 MW
- Danger at start
- 31
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 5.0GW
- 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 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
53% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 845 ha in 2016, 927 ha in 2017, 1 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,602 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Molota where it started2,342 ha reached on 15 Apr5.0 %
-
708 ha reached on 16 Apr1.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Apr | 35.2 °C | 38 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 16 Apr | 36.3 °C | 36 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 17 Apr after | 36.1 °C | 35 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 18 Apr after | 34.9 °C | 35 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 19 Apr after | 34.9 °C | 40 % | 31 km/h | 0.9 mm | High 23 |
| 20 Apr after | 34.7 °C | 41 % | 31 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 26 |
| 21 Apr after | 33.1 °C | 40 % | 31 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 26 |
| 22 Apr after | 36.6 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 23 Apr after | 35.9 °C | 33 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 24 Apr after | 36.0 °C | 36 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 25 Apr after | 35.1 °C | 40 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 26 Apr after | 33.4 °C | 39 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
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 · 86Every 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 Molota fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 April 2023 and 16 April 2023: 2 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 3,030 hectares (30.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Molota (2,342 ha, 5.0 %); Friguiagbé (708 ha, 1.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.3 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 23 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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.