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Ouandja fire, 13 December 2016 Ouandja, Yalinga, Ouandja Kotto

Out · last detection 6 Jan 2017, 23:30 UTC

The fire started on 13 December 2016 in Ouandja, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 24 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 25,709 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 5th largest in Vakaga since 2016 (of 72 with a page). Number 18 in Central African Republic in 2016, of 165.

Burnt area
25,709ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
24days
13 Dec 2016 – 5 Jan 2017
Municipalities hit
3
sub-prefectures
Started on
13 Dec
2016
Heat detections
941
in a single hotspot: 174 MW
Danger at start
47
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
4.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

6 Jan 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Dec5 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

1314151617181920212223242526272829303112356

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

33°high
48km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone 55 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Ouandja where it started
    20,095 ha reached on 13 Dec
    1.0 %
  2. Yalinga
    2,127 ha reached on 17 Dec
    0.0 %
  3. Ouandja Kotto
    303 ha reached on 13 Dec
    0.0 %

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)
13 Dec 31.1 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
14 Dec 29.8 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Dec 29.2 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
16 Dec 29.7 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
17 Dec 29.7 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
18 Dec 29.2 °C 12 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
19 Dec 30.0 °C 16 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
20 Dec 30.2 °C 16 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
21 Dec 30.4 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
22 Dec 31.3 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
23 Dec 32.7 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
24 Dec 32.9 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
25 Dec 31.1 °C 17 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
26 Dec 30.6 °C 18 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
27 Dec 30.0 °C 20 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
28 Dec 29.6 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
29 Dec 31.4 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
30 Dec 31.3 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
31 Dec 30.9 °C 15 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
1 Jan 31.5 °C 15 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
2 Jan 30.7 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
3 Jan 30.6 °C 14 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
4 Jan 29.6 °C 14 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
5 Jan 30.6 °C 15 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
6 Jan after 32.6 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
7 Jan after 33.3 °C 13 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
8 Jan after 32.7 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
9 Jan after 30.8 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
10 Jan after 31.7 °C 11 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
11 Jan after 32.1 °C 12 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
12 Jan after 33.0 °C 13 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
13 Jan after 32.7 °C 13 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
14 Jan after 34.6 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
15 Jan after 35.3 °C 9 % 35 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.

Before · 6 Dec 2016
After · 12 Jan 2017

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 · 941Every 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 Central African Republic ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ouandja fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 13 December 2016 to 5 January 2017 (24 days). The perimeter dates it from 13 December 2016 to 3 January 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 25,709 hectares (257.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Ouandja (20,095 ha, 1.0 %); Yalinga (2,127 ha, 0.0 %); Ouandja Kotto (303 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.9 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, 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.

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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.