Nzoo fire, January 2024 Nzoo, Bossou
The fire started on 13 January 2024 in Nzoo, Guinea, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,987 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 23th largest in Nzérékoré since 2016 (of 241 with a page). Number 12 in Guinea in 2024, of 118.
The power measured by the satellite is low (28.4 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
- 4,987ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 13 Jan 2024 – 19 Jan 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 13 Jan
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 151
- in a single hotspot: 28 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.1GW
- 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 42 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
89% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,435 ha in 2017, 3,621 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,416 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Nzoo where it started4,104 ha reached on 14 Jan7.6 %
-
491 ha reached on 14 Jan2.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Jan | 27.4 °C | 31 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 14 Jan | 27.7 °C | 27 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 15 Jan | 26.8 °C | 38 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 16 Jan | 28.2 °C | 35 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 17 Jan | 28.0 °C | 30 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 18 Jan | 26.7 °C | 34 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 19 Jan | 26.8 °C | 38 % | 20 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 20 Jan after | 28.3 °C | 31 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 21 Jan after | 27.9 °C | 33 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 22 Jan after | 28.7 °C | 27 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 23 Jan after | 29.8 °C | 19 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 24 Jan after | 28.8 °C | 31 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 25 Jan after | 29.2 °C | 27 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 26 Jan after | 29.1 °C | 13 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 27 Jan after | 28.1 °C | 16 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 28 Jan after | 28.0 °C | 15 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Jan after | 28.2 °C | 18 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
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 · 151Every 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 Nzoo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 13 January 2024 and 19 January 2024: 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 4,987 hectares (49.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Nzoo (4,104 ha, 7.6 %); Bossou (491 ha, 2.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.2 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 26 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 22, 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.