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Rafaï fire, 3 January 2016 Rafaï, Yalinga

Out · last detection 25 Jan 2016, 23:38 UTC

The fire started on 3 January 2016 in Rafaï, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 22 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 58,216 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 8th largest in Mbomou since 2016 (of 80 with a page). Number 7 in Central African Republic in 2016, of 165.

Burnt area
58,216ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
22days
3 Jan 2016 – 24 Jan 2016
Municipalities hit
2
sub-prefectures
Started on
3 Jan
2016
Heat detections
2,524
in a single hotspot: 287 MW
Danger at start
44
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
18.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Jan 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 3 Jan24 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

38°high
41km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 31 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

  1. Rafaï where it started
    57,370 ha reached on 3 Jan
    2.1 %
  2. Yalinga
    1,307 ha reached on 3 Jan
    0.0 %

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)
3 Jan 34.3 °C 14 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
4 Jan 35.4 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
5 Jan 36.2 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 Jan 36.8 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
7 Jan 36.7 °C 13 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Jan 37.7 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
9 Jan 37.4 °C 11 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
10 Jan 36.2 °C 9 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
11 Jan 35.5 °C 10 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Jan 35.6 °C 12 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
13 Jan 36.3 °C 12 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
14 Jan 36.3 °C 11 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
15 Jan 35.9 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
16 Jan 36.3 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
17 Jan 37.1 °C 13 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
18 Jan 36.2 °C 13 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
19 Jan 36.1 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
20 Jan 35.5 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
21 Jan 36.2 °C 9 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
22 Jan 37.2 °C 9 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
23 Jan 36.3 °C 10 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
24 Jan 36.2 °C 10 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 Jan after 35.3 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
26 Jan after 34.3 °C 10 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
27 Jan after 32.9 °C 11 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
28 Jan after 33.6 °C 10 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
29 Jan after 32.2 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
30 Jan after 33.2 °C 11 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
31 Jan after 34.6 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
1 Feb after 35.6 °C 12 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
2 Feb after 36.5 °C 12 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
3 Feb after 36.6 °C 10 % 38 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.

Before · 27 Dec 2015
After · 31 Jan 2016

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 · 2,524Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Central African Republic ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Rafaï fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 3 January 2016 to 24 January 2016 (22 days). The perimeter dates it from 3 January 2016 to 20 January 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 58,216 hectares (582.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Rafaï (57,370 ha, 2.1 %); Yalinga (1,307 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Central African Republic (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.

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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.