Rafaï fire, 20 January 2016 Rafaï
The fire started on 20 January 2016 in Rafaï, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,583 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 66th largest in Mbomou since 2016 (of 80 with a page). Number 135 in Central African Republic in 2016, of 165.
- Burnt area
- 5,583ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 20 Jan 2016 – 25 Jan 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 20 Jan
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 147
- in a single hotspot: 81 MW
- Danger at start
- 50
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.5GW
- 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 48 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
-
Rafaï where it started5,622 ha reached on 20 Jan0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Jan | 35.7 °C | 10 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 21 Jan | 35.9 °C | 9 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 22 Jan | 37.0 °C | 8 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 23 Jan | 36.0 °C | 15 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 24 Jan | 35.3 °C | 19 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 25 Jan | 35.8 °C | 10 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 26 Jan after | 35.1 °C | 10 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 27 Jan after | 33.3 °C | 10 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 28 Jan after | 34.0 °C | 10 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 29 Jan after | 33.1 °C | 9 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 30 Jan after | 33.9 °C | 10 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 31 Jan after | 35.0 °C | 11 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 1 Feb after | 36.0 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 2 Feb after | 36.9 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 3 Feb after | 37.0 °C | 10 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 4 Feb after | 38.1 °C | 11 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
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 · 147Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 92,402 haRafaï28 December 2016 · 35 days · 11 km away
- 34,440 haRafaïFebruary 2023 · 17 days · 24 km away
- 61,568 haRafaï9 January 2019 · 19 days · 29 km away
- 62,728 haRafaï28 January 2023 · 30 days · 32 km away
- 53,938 haRafaï16 January 2016 · 22 days · 35 km away
- 44,055 haRafaï4 January 2017 · 21 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Rafaï fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 January 2016 and 25 January 2016: 6 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 5,583 hectares (55.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Rafaï (5,622 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, 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.
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.