Pakouabo fire, January 2016 Pakouabo, Tibéita
The fire started on 20 January 2016 in Pakouabo, Côte d’Ivoire, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,989 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the largest fire in Sassandra-Marahoué since 2016 (of 10 with a page). Number 19 in Côte d’Ivoire in 2016, of 226.
- Burnt area
- 4,989ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 14days
- 20 Jan 2016 – 2 Feb 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 20 Jan
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 171
- in a single hotspot: 41 MW
- Danger at start
- 35
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.4GW
- 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
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Pakouabo where it started3,011 ha reached on 22 Jan16 %
-
2,011 ha reached on 23 Jan3.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Jan | 35.9 °C | 29 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 21 Jan | 34.3 °C | 34 % | 28 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 34 |
| 22 Jan | 36.4 °C | 9 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 23 Jan | 37.2 °C | 3 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 24 Jan | 36.4 °C | 4 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 25 Jan | 34.5 °C | 10 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 26 Jan | 34.9 °C | 17 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 27 Jan | 35.4 °C | 12 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 28 Jan | 34.8 °C | 9 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 29 Jan | 34.4 °C | 5 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 30 Jan | 35.0 °C | 6 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 31 Jan | 35.2 °C | 10 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 1 Feb | 36.7 °C | 7 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 2 Feb | 35.3 °C | 7 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 3 Feb after | 36.2 °C | 3 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 4 Feb after | 35.3 °C | 20 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 5 Feb after | 36.1 °C | 13 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 6 Feb after | 37.9 °C | 12 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 7 Feb after | 37.1 °C | 14 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 8 Feb after | 35.5 °C | 26 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 9 Feb after | 37.2 °C | 9 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 10 Feb after | 37.1 °C | 7 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 11 Feb after | 37.1 °C | 12 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 12 Feb after | 36.8 °C | 14 % | 24 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.
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 · 171Every 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 Pakouabo fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 January 2016 to 2 February 2016 (14 days). The perimeter dates it from 27 January 2016 to 30 January 2016.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,989 hectares (49.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Pakouabo (3,011 ha, 16 %); Tibéita (2,011 ha, 3.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.2 °C, humidity dropped to 3 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 66, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Côte d’Ivoire (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.
Emergency number: 180
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.