Ouadda fire, 10 January 2026 Ouadda, Ouandja Kotto
The fire started on 10 January 2026 in Ouadda, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,435 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 148th largest in Haute-Kotto since 2016 (of 372 with a page). Number 50 in Central African Republic in 2026, of 148.
The power measured by the satellite is low (27.0 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
- 9,435ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 13days
- 10 Jan 2026 – 22 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 10 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 157
- in a single hotspot: 27 MW
- Danger at start
- 53
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 811MW
- 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
99% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,823 ha in 2016, 3,503 ha in 2017, 4,774 ha in 2018, 2,949 ha in 2020, 2,621 ha in 2021, 3,172 ha in 2022, 3,891 ha in 2023, 5,329 ha in 2024, 1,499 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 9,316 ha that had burned before.
- 3,787 ha Ouadda fire, January 2024 5,209 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,039 ha Ouadda fire, January 2020 5,498 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 480 ha Ouadda fire, February 2020 9,623 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 73 ha Ouadda fire, January 2020 7,332 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Ouadda where it started9,507 ha reached on 12 Jan0.4 %
-
1 ha reached on 13 Jan0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Jan | 34.2 °C | 17 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 11 Jan | 34.1 °C | 15 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 12 Jan | 34.5 °C | 15 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 13 Jan | 34.2 °C | 15 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 14 Jan | 33.7 °C | 15 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 15 Jan | 33.9 °C | 12 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 16 Jan | 33.5 °C | 15 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 17 Jan | 34.6 °C | 12 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 18 Jan | 35.1 °C | 9 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 19 Jan | 35.4 °C | 11 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 20 Jan | 35.1 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 21 Jan | 36.2 °C | 14 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 22 Jan | 36.5 °C | 16 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 23 Jan after | 35.7 °C | 20 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 24 Jan after | 36.5 °C | 20 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 25 Jan after | 37.8 °C | 11 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 26 Jan after | 37.8 °C | 9 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 27 Jan after | 37.8 °C | 10 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 28 Jan after | 35.7 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 29 Jan after | 35.8 °C | 10 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 30 Jan after | 36.5 °C | 9 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 31 Jan after | 36.5 °C | 10 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 1 Feb after | 36.1 °C | 11 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
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 11 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 59 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 48: 3.2 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 · 157Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 9,623 haOuadda3 February 2020 · 12 days · 9 km away
- 45,758 haOuaddaDecember 2025 · 30 days · 23 km away
- 10,585 haOuadda22 February 2026 · 16 days · 23 km away
- 8,315 haOuadda1 February 2026 · 9 days · 30 km away
- 8,629 haOuadda23 January 2016 · 12 days · 31 km away
- 13,524 haOuadda17 January 2016 · 23 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ouadda fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 10 January 2026 and 22 January 2026: 13 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 9,435 hectares (94.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ouadda (9,507 ha, 0.4 %); Ouandja Kotto (1 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.5 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 59, 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.