Neya fire, January 2026 Neya, Toli
The fire started on 22 January 2026 in Neya, Sierra Leone, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,670 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 121th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 1112 with a page). Number 66 in Sierra Leone in 2026, of 305.
The power measured by the satellite is low (9.1 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
- 2,670ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 22 Jan 2026 – 28 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- chiefdoms
- Started on
- 22 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 40
- in a single hotspot: 9 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 112MW
- 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 14 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
61% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 822 ha in 2018, 999 ha in 2022, 495 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,629 ha that had burned before.
- 999 ha Neya fire, January 2022 1,477 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 822 ha Neya fire, January 2018 1,329 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 495 ha Neya fire, January 2024 1,015 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Neya where it started2,569 ha reached on 20 Jan1.8 %
-
81 ha reached on 26 Jan0.8 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Jan | 30.1 °C | 26 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 23 Jan | 30.9 °C | 26 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 24 Jan | 31.9 °C | 20 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 25 Jan | 30.6 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 26 Jan | 31.8 °C | 16 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 27 Jan | 32.3 °C | 17 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Jan | 31.6 °C | 19 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 29 Jan after | 32.2 °C | 23 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 30 Jan after | 32.9 °C | 21 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 31 Jan after | 32.3 °C | 26 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 1 Feb after | 31.2 °C | 33 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 2 Feb after | 32.9 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 3 Feb after | 29.9 °C | 36 % | 24 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 24 |
| 4 Feb after | 28.8 °C | 44 % | 19 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 5 Feb after | 32.7 °C | 21 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 6 Feb after | 33.7 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 7 Feb after | 34.2 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 28 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 143 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 112: 7.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 40Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Neya fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 January 2026 and 28 January 2026: 7 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 2,670 hectares (26.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Neya (2,569 ha, 1.8 %); Toli (81 ha, 0.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.3 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 31 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 27, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Sierra Leone (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 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.