Burned area
satellite only111ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- perimeter revised on 26 January 2022
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
DZ · Algeria · –
Ouled Bouachra fire, August 2020 أولاد بوعشرة · Zoubiria, Ouled Bouachra
Out · last detection 21 Aug 2020, 12:36 UTC
The fire started on 18 August 2020 in Ouled Bouachra, Algeria, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 111 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 54th largest in Médéa since 2016 (of 55 with a page). Number 218 in Algeria in 2020, of 236.
The power measured by the satellite is low (10.4 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-25matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only4days
18 Aug 2020 to 21 Aug 2020: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 21 Aug 2020, 12:36 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only18 Aug 2020
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 18 Aug 2020
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only3
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 10 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 18 Aug 2020 – 21 Aug 2020
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only10MW
Total radiative power on 18 August 2020; hotspots that day: 1.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 18 Aug 2020
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model41.0FWI · very high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 2.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 18 Aug 2020, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model40.3°C · 15% RH
High of 40.3 °C and minimum humidity of 15% on 20 August 2020; gusts of 36 km/h on 20 August 2020.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 18 Aug 2020 – 21 Aug 2020
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
logLast day with fire: 19 August 2020 → 21 August 2020.
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
-
· reconstructed perimeterEFFIS (Copernicus) revises the perimeter
What was saved on 25 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 111 ha
- Dates
- 18 Aug 2020 – 21 Aug 2020
- Name
- Ouled Bouachra
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/ouled-bouachra-2020-08?v=2026-10-25A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire ouled-bouachra-2020-08.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-08-18 | 1 | 10 | 36.4 | 20.6 | 20 | 13.3 | 32.4 | 0 | 41 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-08-19 | 0 | 0 | 38.9 | 21.8 | 18 | 7.3 | 26.6 | 0 | 39.2 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-08-20 | 0 | 0 | 40.3 | 23.7 | 15 | 9 | 36 | 0.3 | 50.1 | extremo | 1 |
| 2020-08-21 | 2 | 10 | 39.7 | 25.9 | 19 | 10.2 | 31.3 | 1.1 | 49.3 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2020-08-22 | 0 | 0 | 37.9 | 24.2 | 17 | 14.5 | 35.6 | 0 | 51 | extremo | 0 |
| 2020-08-23 | 0 | 0 | 36.1 | 22.5 | 18 | 14.2 | 34.9 | 0 | 52.4 | extremo | 0 |
| 2020-08-24 | 0 | 0 | 34.8 | 20.9 | 23 | 13.7 | 33.8 | 0 | 47.2 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2020-08-25 | 0 | 0 | 36.6 | 19.9 | 20 | 13.3 | 34.9 | 0 | 44.4 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2020-08-26 | 0 | 0 | 36.4 | 19.9 | 16 | 14.4 | 36.4 | 0 | 50.4 | extremo | 0 |
| 2020-08-27 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 20.8 | 18 | 11.5 | 32.4 | 0 | 48.8 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2020-08-28 | 0 | 0 | 36.4 | 20.1 | 14 | 14.7 | 37.1 | 0 | 54 | extremo | 0 |
| 2020-08-29 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 18.8 | 15 | 16.7 | 40 | 0 | 65.2 | extremo | 0 |
| 2020-08-30 | 0 | 0 | 28.6 | 19.3 | 27 | 12.6 | 38.9 | 0.4 | 30 | alto | 0 |
| 2020-08-31 | 0 | 0 | 27.2 | 18.7 | 25 | 15.5 | 38.2 | 0 | 45.8 | muy_alto | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: EFFIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 111ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 4days
- 18 Aug 2020 – 21 Aug 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- communes
- Started on
- 18 Aug
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 3
- in a single hotspot: 10 MW
- Danger at start
- 41
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 10MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
18 Aug21 Aug
21 Aug 2020
How it evolved, day by day
18 Aug
21 Aug
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
40°high
36km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity
It had gone 2 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
-
67 ha reached on 21 Aug0.3 %
-
44 ha reached on 18 Aug0.4 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
What burned
- Mixed forest73 %
- Other natural land24 %
- Agricultural areas2.6 %
- Broadleaved forest0.9 %
Land cover inside the perimeter as reported by Copernicus EFFIS (outside the Corine Land Cover area).
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2020Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Aug | 36.4 °C | 20 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 19 Aug | 38.9 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 20 Aug | 40.3 °C | 15 % | 36 km/h | 0.3 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 21 Aug | 39.7 °C | 19 % | 31 km/h | 1.1 mm | Very high 49 |
| 22 Aug after | 37.9 °C | 17 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 23 Aug after | 36.1 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 24 Aug after | 34.8 °C | 23 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 25 Aug after | 36.6 °C | 20 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 26 Aug after | 36.4 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 27 Aug after | 35.0 °C | 18 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 28 Aug after | 36.4 °C | 14 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 29 Aug after | 36.0 °C | 15 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 30 Aug after | 28.6 °C | 27 % | 39 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 30 |
| 31 Aug after | 27.2 °C | 25 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 41.0, a minimum humidity of 20% and 2 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 18.
FWI at the start
41.0
Minimum humidity
20 %
Days without rain
2
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Ouled Bouachra fire, August 2020
111 ha
4 days
FWI 41.0
Min. humidity 20 %
Souhane fire, July 2017
901 ha
8 days
FWI 40.5
Min. humidity 20 %
67 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Zoubiria fire, August 2019
346 ha
6 days
FWI 39.4
Min. humidity 19 %
5 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.0 mm on 27 Aug.
El Hassania fire, July 2019
223 ha
3 days
FWI 41.1
Min. humidity 18 %
74 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.6 mm on 1 Aug.
Bouchrahil fire, July 2019
1,698 ha
8 days
FWI 40.1
Min. humidity 22 %
48 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.7 mm on 1 Aug.
Bouinan fire, October 2022
134 ha
2 days
FWI 41.7
Min. humidity 20 %
50 km away, in 2022
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
What happened to them
- 3 days
- median duration
- 190 ha
- median area
- 6 %
- went past 1,000 ha
- 1.6 mm
- rain at the end (median; 11 of 18 had it)
It stayed below its twins: 111 ha against a median of 190 ha. It lasted 4 days, against 3 days.
In 7 of 18, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.6 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
—first rain
—no rain in ten days
36km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 21 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 11 of 18, with a median of 1.6 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
- Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
- Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
- Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
- Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
- They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 11 Aug 2020
After · 28 Aug 2020
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 · 3Every 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 time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 2,886 haOuled AntarJuly 2017 · 7 days · 12 km away
- 2,591 haOuled Hellal أولاد هلال11 July 2017 · 5 days · 17 km away
- 5,482 haOuled Hellal أولاد هلال6 August 2020 · 9 days · 25 km away
- 2,014 haOuled Hellal أولاد هلال2 July 2020 · 16 days · 25 km away
- 2,201 haOued Djemaa وادي الجمعةJuly 2026 · 5 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ouled Bouachra fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 18 August 2020 to 21 August 2020 (4 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 August 2020 to 19 August 2020.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 111 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Zoubiria (67 ha, 0.3 %); Ouled Bouachra (44 ha, 0.4 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire started in Ouled Bouachra and came within 5.8 km of its centre. That is the distance from the perimeter, or the nearest hotspot, to the point marking the centre; it does not mean it entered the houses.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 40.3 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Algeria (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
- How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
- Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 18. Their median duration was 3 days and their median area 190 ha; 6 % went past 1,000 ha. In 7 of 18, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.6 mm.
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.
Emergency number: 14 · 1021 · Emergency number and official warnings
Satellite cross-check
History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
- Last day with fire: 19 August 2020 → 21 August 2020.
RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 18 August 2020 to 19 August 2020. 3 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
- Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
Where this data comes from
The perimeter and land cover come from the Copernicus European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), measured on MODIS and Sentinel-2 imagery and published under CC BY 4.0. 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-ShareAlike 2.0). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from each country’s official figure.