Ouandja fire, January 2022 Ouandja
The fire started on 17 January 2022 in Ouandja, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 10,025 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 18th largest in Vakaga since 2016 (of 72 with a page). Number 40 in Central African Republic in 2022, of 98.
- Burnt area
- 10,025ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 12days
- 17 Jan 2022 – 28 Jan 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 17 Jan
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 419
- in a single hotspot: 84 MW
- Danger at start
- 46
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.6GW
- 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
80% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 7,986 ha in 2016, 1,690 ha in 2017, 1,648 ha in 2019, 1,154 ha in 2020, 1,261 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 8,014 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Ouandja where it started10,072 ha reached on 17 Jan0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Jan | 32.2 °C | 10 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 18 Jan | 30.7 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 19 Jan | 30.3 °C | 13 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 20 Jan | 29.4 °C | 13 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 21 Jan | 30.1 °C | 12 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 22 Jan | 31.8 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 23 Jan | 32.9 °C | 14 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 24 Jan | 33.3 °C | 13 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 25 Jan | 32.9 °C | 11 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 26 Jan | 32.4 °C | 13 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 27 Jan | 29.7 °C | 11 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 28 Jan | 30.2 °C | 11 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 29 Jan after | 29.9 °C | 10 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 30 Jan after | 30.6 °C | 9 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 31 Jan after | 30.9 °C | 10 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 1 Feb after | 31.2 °C | 11 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 2 Feb after | 31.4 °C | 11 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 3 Feb after | 33.9 °C | 11 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 4 Feb after | 32.8 °C | 9 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 5 Feb after | 30.1 °C | 10 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 6 Feb after | 28.5 °C | 8 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 7 Feb after | 29.9 °C | 8 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
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 · 419Every 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 Ouandja fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 January 2022 to 28 January 2022 (12 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 January 2022 to 25 January 2022.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 10,025 hectares (100.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Ouandja (10,072 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.3 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 63, 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.