Poli fire, 12 December 2018 Poli
The fire started on 12 December 2018 in Poli, Cameroon, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,689 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 180th largest in North since 2016 (of 1648 with a page). Number 7 in Cameroon in 2018, of 104.
- Burnt area
- 2,689ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 12 Dec 2018 – 14 Dec 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 12 Dec
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 66
- in a single hotspot: 77 MW
- Danger at start
- 31
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.2GW
- 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 34 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
63% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,385 ha in 2016, 647 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,707 ha that had burned before.
- 1,355 ha Poli fire, November 2016 2,095 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 387 ha Poli fire, November 2017 1,330 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 260 ha Poli fire, November 2017 1,078 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 30 ha Poli fire, January 2016 1,084 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Poli where it started2,707 ha reached on 11 Dec0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Dec | 33.2 °C | 20 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 13 Dec | 34.3 °C | 20 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 14 Dec | 35.5 °C | 18 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 15 Dec after | 35.5 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 16 Dec after | 36.2 °C | 14 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 17 Dec after | 33.9 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 18 Dec after | 32.5 °C | 17 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 19 Dec after | 32.5 °C | 19 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 20 Dec after | 32.9 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 21 Dec after | 32.3 °C | 20 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 22 Dec after | 32.9 °C | 20 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 23 Dec after | 32.5 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 24 Dec after | 30.5 °C | 21 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
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 · 66Every 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 Poli fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 December 2018 and 14 December 2018: 3 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 2,689 hectares (26.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Poli (2,707 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.5 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Cameroon (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 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.