Ouadda fire, 22 January 2018 Ouadda, Samba-Boungou
The fire started on 22 January 2018 in Ouadda, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,465 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 197th largest in Haute-Kotto since 2016 (of 372 with a page). Number 50 in Central African Republic in 2018, of 81.
- Burnt area
- 7,465ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 10days
- 22 Jan 2018 – 31 Jan 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 22 Jan
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 268
- in a single hotspot: 77 MW
- Danger at start
- 56
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.4GW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
45% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,090 ha in 2016, 1,815 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,384 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Ouadda where it started7,499 ha reached on 22 Jan0.3 %
-
14 ha0.0 %
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 | 36.5 °C | 11 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 23 Jan | 36.4 °C | 10 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 24 Jan | 35.0 °C | 9 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 25 Jan | 35.6 °C | 11 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 26 Jan | 35.1 °C | 11 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 27 Jan | 35.9 °C | 12 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 28 Jan | 35.9 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 29 Jan | 35.6 °C | 9 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 30 Jan | 35.5 °C | 10 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 31 Jan | 35.3 °C | 11 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 1 Feb after | 36.0 °C | 11 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 2 Feb after | 37.1 °C | 10 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 3 Feb after | 37.5 °C | 11 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 4 Feb after | 37.4 °C | 12 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 5 Feb after | 38.7 °C | 7 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 6 Feb after | 39.0 °C | 10 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 7 Feb after | 39.9 °C | 10 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 8 Feb after | 39.8 °C | 9 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 9 Feb after | 40.3 °C | 9 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 10 Feb after | 38.8 °C | 11 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
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 · 268Every 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 Ouadda fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 January 2018 to 31 January 2018 (10 days). The perimeter dates it from 26 January 2018 to 31 January 2018.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 7,465 hectares (74.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ouadda (7,499 ha, 0.3 %); Samba-Boungou (14 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.5 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 39 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 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.