Pensa fire, 15 November 2022 Pensa, Arbinda, Bouroum
The fire started on 15 November 2022 in Pensa, Burkina Faso, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,899 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 57th largest in Koulsé since 2016 (of 235 with a page). Number 17 in Burkina Faso in 2022, of 109.
- Burnt area
- 2,899ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 15 Nov 2022 – 16 Nov 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- communes
- Started on
- 15 Nov
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 82
- in a single hotspot: 72 MW
- Danger at start
- 67
- Extreme · 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 44 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
12% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 335 ha in 2021.
What happened to each town
-
Pensa where it started2,375 ha reached on 15 Nov2.6 %
-
307 ha reached on 15 Nov0.1 %
-
235 ha reached on 15 Nov0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Nov | 34.8 °C | 7 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 16 Nov | 33.0 °C | 9 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 17 Nov after | 33.4 °C | 10 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 18 Nov after | 34.3 °C | 12 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 19 Nov after | 35.0 °C | 14 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 20 Nov after | 35.5 °C | 10 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 21 Nov after | 34.1 °C | 8 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 22 Nov after | 35.0 °C | 8 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 23 Nov after | 35.4 °C | 8 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 24 Nov after | 34.8 °C | 9 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 25 Nov after | 33.7 °C | 11 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 26 Nov after | 34.2 °C | 9 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
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 · 82Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 10,056 haArbinda28 January 2022 · 4 days · 19 km away
- 8,487 haBarsalogho10 November 2021 · 5 days · 24 km away
- 8,238 haBouroumJanuary 2024 · 5 days · 30 km away
- 5,395 haGorgadji 17 October 2026 · 7 days · 31 km away
- 5,645 haArbinda15 January 2026 · 4 days · 34 km away
- 9,191 haGorom-Gorom18 November 2024 · 4 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Pensa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 November 2022 and 16 November 2022: 2 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 2,899 hectares (29.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Pensa (2,375 ha, 2.6 %); Arbinda (307 ha, 0.1 %); Bouroum (235 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.8 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 67, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Burkina Faso (OCHA COD-AB). 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 OCHA COD-AB (Institut Geographique Burkina (IGB)) (Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-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.