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CM · Cameroon · –

Ngambé-Tikar fire, 3 February 2023 Ngambé-Tikar

Out · last detection 24 Feb 2023, 01:32 UTC

The fire started on 3 February 2023 in Ngambé-Tikar, Cameroon, and satellites saw it burning for 22 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,817 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 15th largest in Centre since 2016 (of 178 with a page). Number 8 in Cameroon in 2023, of 270.

Burnt area
6,817ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
22days
3 Feb 2023 – 24 Feb 2023
Municipalities hit
1
communes
Started on
3 Feb
2023
Heat detections
799
in a single hotspot: 0 MW
Danger at start
46
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
281MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 3 Feb24 Feb
24 Feb 2023

How it evolved, day by day

3 Feb 2023 · 135 MW · 8 4 Feb 2023 · 39 MW · 10 5 Feb 2023 · 38 MW · 8 6 Feb 2023 · 214 MW · 21 7 Feb 2023 · 604 MW · 48 8 Feb 2023 · 385 MW · 41 9 Feb 2023 · 96 MW · 22 10 Feb 2023 · 290 MW · 27 11 Feb 2023 · 725 MW · 88 12 Feb 2023 · 479 MW · 61 13 Feb 2023 · 168 MW · 20 14 Feb 2023 · 16 MW · 15 15 Feb 2023 · 79 MW · 26 16 Feb 2023 · 58 MW · 24 17 Feb 2023 · 373 MW · 31 18 Feb 2023 · 796 MW · 95 19 Feb 2023 · 551 MW · 81 20 Feb 2023 · 123 MW · 41 21 Feb 2023 · 538 MW · 71 22 Feb 2023 · 60 MW · 29 23 Feb 2023 · 415 MW · 29 24 Feb 2023 · 3 MW · 3
3 Feb 8 Feb 13 Feb 18 Feb 23 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
34km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.2 mm on 4 Mar.

This area had burned before

93% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,065 ha in 2017, 1,053 ha in 2019, 5,590 ha in 2020, 5,411 ha in 2021, 4,196 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,327 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 4.3% of the area of London (68 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. Ngambé-Tikar where it started
    6,865 ha
    1.0 %

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 2025
Built-up area0.23 ha
Residents≈ 30

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.23 hectares of built-up land and about 30 residents (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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 60 days without rain: 50 % of the area in Cameroon

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
3 Feb 37.2 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Feb 37.2 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Feb 37.8 °C 7 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
6 Feb 35.7 °C 17 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
7 Feb 35.5 °C 13 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
8 Feb 36.7 °C 14 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
9 Feb 35.2 °C 16 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
10 Feb 36.8 °C 10 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
11 Feb 36.3 °C 11 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
12 Feb 37.4 °C 13 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
13 Feb 35.7 °C 13 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
14 Feb 35.6 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
15 Feb 34.7 °C 15 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
16 Feb 33.5 °C 20 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
17 Feb 34.8 °C 14 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
18 Feb 35.0 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
19 Feb 35.1 °C 20 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
20 Feb 35.5 °C 18 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Feb 36.4 °C 17 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
22 Feb 35.7 °C 25 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 Feb 35.9 °C 19 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
24 Feb 35.8 °C 23 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Feb after 35.7 °C 21 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Feb after 35.2 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
27 Feb after 37.8 °C 12 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
28 Feb after 36.5 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
1 Mar after 36.7 °C 21 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
2 Mar after 37.3 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
3 Mar after 32.4 °C 44 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm High 31
4 Mar after 33.6 °C 43 % 31 km/h 2.2 mm Moderate 13

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 45.7, a minimum humidity of 15% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 77.

FWI at the start 45.7
Minimum humidity 15 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Ngambé-Tikar fire, February 2017
13,662 ha 35 days FWI 45.7 Min. humidity 15 % 16 km away, in 2017

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

What happened to them

15 days
median duration
1,475 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
6.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 41 of 77 had it)

It was 4.6 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 22 days, against 15 days.

Only 8 of its 77 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 36 of 77, 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 6.4 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

2.2 mmfirst rain
4 Mar8 days after it ended
34km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 24 Feb, and on 4 Mar 2.2 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 41 of 77, with a median of 6.4 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 · 27 Jan 2023
After · 3 Mar 2023

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 · Copernicus

On 19 February 2023 the air beside the fire reached 438 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 228: 15 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak438 µg/m³
Days over the guideline27 days
PM10624 µg/m³
Optical depth3.27
1 Feb7 Feb13 Feb19 Feb25 Feb
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 0Every 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 Cameroon

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ngambé-Tikar fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 February 2023 and 24 February 2023: 22 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 6,817 hectares (68.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Ngambé-Tikar (6,865 ha, 1.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.8 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 53, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Cameroon (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: 77. Their median duration was 15 days and their median area 1,475 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 8 of its 77 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 36 of 77, 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 6.4 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.

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 4 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 3 March 2023 → 24 February 2023.
  2. Start date: 27 January 2023 → 3 February 2023.
  3. Last day with fire: 24 February 2023 → 3 March 2023.
  4. Start date: 3 February 2023 → 27 January 2023.

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.

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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. No 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 2025, 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 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.