Ouadda fire, 19 January 2017 Ouadda
The fire started on 19 January 2017 in Ouadda, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,912 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 295th largest in Haute-Kotto since 2016 (of 372 with a page). Number 74 in Central African Republic in 2017, of 100.
The power measured by the satellite is low (29.4 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
- 5,912ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 19 Jan 2017 – 25 Jan 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 19 Jan
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 156
- in a single hotspot: 29 MW
- Danger at start
- 58
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 855MW
- 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 56 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
9% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 551 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Ouadda where it started5,946 ha reached on 19 Jan0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Jan | 38.9 °C | 8 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 20 Jan | 38.5 °C | 11 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 21 Jan | 39.0 °C | 9 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 22 Jan | 38.9 °C | 10 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 23 Jan | 38.6 °C | 11 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 24 Jan | 38.1 °C | 12 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 25 Jan | 36.2 °C | 19 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 26 Jan after | 36.2 °C | 20 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 27 Jan after | 36.3 °C | 14 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 28 Jan after | 37.7 °C | 10 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 29 Jan after | 34.7 °C | 15 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 30 Jan after | 36.5 °C | 11 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 31 Jan after | 37.2 °C | 9 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 1 Feb after | 37.2 °C | 8 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 2 Feb after | 35.5 °C | 7 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 3 Feb after | 35.2 °C | 8 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 4 Feb after | 35.9 °C | 9 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
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 · 156Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 8,430 haOuadda10 February 2020 · 8 days · 3 km away
- 11,633 haOuadda19 February 2026 · 19 days · 4 km away
- 7,332 haOuadda1 February 2021 · 14 days · 5 km away
- 8,028 haOuadda7 February 2020 · 12 days · 11 km away
- 11,734 haYalinga23 February 2026 · 16 days · 25 km away
- 12,166 haOuadda20 January 2018 · 13 days · 27 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ouadda fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 January 2017 and 25 January 2017: 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 5,912 hectares (59.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Ouadda (5,946 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.0 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 67, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Central African Republic (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.