Poli fire, 3 January 2022 Poli
The fire started on 3 January 2022 in Poli, Cameroon, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,726 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 172th largest in North since 2016 (of 1648 with a page). Number 26 in Cameroon in 2022, of 201.
- Burnt area
- 2,726ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 3 Jan 2022 – 4 Jan 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 3 Jan
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 60
- in a single hotspot: 88 MW
- Danger at start
- 41
- Very 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
86% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,519 ha in 2016, 662 ha in 2017, 200 ha in 2018, 1,120 ha in 2019, 302 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,352 ha that had burned before.
- 1,211 ha Poli fire, December 2016 4,580 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,120 ha Poli fire, March 2019 2,316 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 929 ha Poli fire, January 2016 1,109 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 302 ha Poli fire, January 2021 1,447 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 186 ha Poli fire, December 2018 3,439 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 34 ha Poli fire, January 2017 1,330 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 14 ha Poli fire, January 2018 1,017 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5 ha Poli fire, March 2017 1,072 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Poli where it started2,742 ha reached on 3 Jan0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan | 30.4 °C | 19 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 4 Jan | 31.3 °C | 23 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 5 Jan after | 32.2 °C | 22 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 6 Jan after | 34.3 °C | 19 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 7 Jan after | 35.5 °C | 18 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 8 Jan after | 35.7 °C | 19 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 9 Jan after | 35.4 °C | 16 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 10 Jan after | 33.5 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 11 Jan after | 32.6 °C | 17 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 12 Jan after | 35.0 °C | 18 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 13 Jan after | 35.2 °C | 16 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 14 Jan after | 34.8 °C | 15 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
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 · 60Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 22,166 haTcholliré2 December 2017 · 14 days · 13 km away
- 26,671 haPoli10 December 2016 · 13 days · 17 km away
- 6,762 haTcholliré9 December 2021 · 4 days · 23 km away
- 7,115 haPoli21 January 2020 · 7 days · 24 km away
- 9,667 haPoli3 January 2026 · 9 days · 32 km away
- 9,527 haPoli28 December 2019 · 18 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Poli fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 January 2022 and 4 January 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 2,726 hectares (27.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Poli (2,742 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 31.3 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 25 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very 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.