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CI · Côte d’Ivoire · –

Nafana fire, January 2016 Koffi-Amonkro, Nafana, Samanza

Out · last detection 12 Feb 2016, 13:46 UTC

The fire started on 23 January 2016 in Nafana, Côte d’Ivoire, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 15,268 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 2th largest in Lacs since 2016 (of 116 with a page). Number 6 in Côte d’Ivoire in 2016, of 221.

Burnt area
15,268ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
21days
23 Jan 2016 – 12 Feb 2016
Municipalities hit
3
sub-prefectures
Started on
23 Jan
2016
Heat detections
590
in a single hotspot: 129 MW
Danger at start
53
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
339MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 23 Jan12 Feb
12 Feb 2016

How it evolved, day by day

23 Jan 2016 · 134 MW · 6 24 Jan 2016 · 22 MW · 15 25 Jan 2016 · 86 MW · 7 26 Jan 2016 · 133 MW · 14 27 Jan 2016 · 951 MW · 46 28 Jan 2016 · 700 MW · 52 29 Jan 2016 · 765 MW · 69 30 Jan 2016 · 243 MW · 73 31 Jan 2016 · 28 MW · 12 1 Feb 2016 · 788 MW · 31 2 Feb 2016 · 501 MW · 41 3 Feb 2016 · 798 MW · 48 4 Feb 2016 · 40 MW · 33 5 Feb 2016 · 470 MW · 44 6 Feb 2016 · 410 MW · 38 7 Feb 2016 · 771 MW · 38 8 Feb 2016 · 28 MW · 7 9 Feb 2016 · 9 MW · 4 10 Feb 2016 · 3 MW · 3 11 Feb 2016 · 216 MW · 7 12 Feb 2016 · 13 MW · 2
23 Jan 27 Jan 2 Feb 7 Feb 12 Feb

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
40km/h · peak gust
4%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 9.6% of the area of London (153 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. 7,477 ha reached on 26 Jan
    21 %
  2. Nafana where it started
    7,259 ha reached on 23 Jan
    14 %
  3. 955 ha reached on 30 Jan
    2.3 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2015
Built-up area10 ha
Residents≈ 2,000

Inside the perimeter there were about 10 hectares of built-up land and about 2,000 residents (GHSL 2015, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)

Started with Very dry air: 23 % of the area in Côte d’Ivoire 60 days without rain: 11 % of the area in Côte d’Ivoire

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
23 Jan 36.7 °C 4 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
24 Jan 35.5 °C 6 % 40 km/h 0.2 mm Extreme 60
25 Jan 35.2 °C 6 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
26 Jan 34.1 °C 10 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
27 Jan 35.6 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
28 Jan 34.4 °C 6 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
29 Jan 34.7 °C 5 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
30 Jan 35.5 °C 9 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
31 Jan 35.7 °C 15 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
1 Feb 36.3 °C 6 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
2 Feb 36.3 °C 4 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
3 Feb 36.5 °C 4 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
4 Feb 35.8 °C 16 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Feb 37.5 °C 11 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Feb 38.3 °C 13 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
7 Feb 37.3 °C 11 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
8 Feb 36.9 °C 11 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
9 Feb 37.3 °C 11 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
10 Feb 37.6 °C 6 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
11 Feb 37.9 °C 10 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
12 Feb 37.1 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
13 Feb after 36.1 °C 20 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 Feb after 36.2 °C 30 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Feb after 35.8 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.8 mm High 30
16 Feb after 38.0 °C 23 % 26 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 40
17 Feb after 38.1 °C 26 % 24 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 40
18 Feb after 38.7 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
19 Feb after 38.2 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
20 Feb after 39.6 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
21 Feb after 39.4 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 52.9, a minimum humidity of 4% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 15.

FWI at the start 52.9
Minimum humidity 4 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Bassawa fire, January 2020
1,241 ha 9 days FWI 51.6 Min. humidity 8 % 87 km away, in 2020

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

What happened to them

5 days
median duration
1,708 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
11.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 3 of 15 had it)

It was 8.9 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 21 days, against 5 days.

None of its 15 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 12 of 15, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 11.2 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
40km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 12 Feb, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 3 of 15, with a median of 11.2 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 16 Jan 2016
After · 19 Feb 2016

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 · 590Every 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 Côte d’Ivoire

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Nafana fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 23 January 2016 to 12 February 2016 (21 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 January 2016 to 11 February 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 15,268 hectares (152.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Koffi-Amonkro (7,477 ha, 21 %); Nafana (7,259 ha, 14 %); Samanza (955 ha, 2.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.3 °C, humidity dropped to 4 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Côte d’Ivoire (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 15. Their median duration was 5 days and their median area 1,708 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. None of its 15 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 12 of 15, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 11.2 mm.

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.

Emergency number: 180 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Area: 15,590 → 15,268 ha.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 180.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 23 January 2016 to 11 February 2016. 590 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2015, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.