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Rafaï fire, 25 January 2016 Rafaï, Djema

Out · last detection 11 Feb 2016, 23:19 UTC

The fire started on 25 January 2016 in Rafaï, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 19,106 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 19th largest in Mbomou since 2016 (of 80 with a page). Number 27 in Central African Republic in 2016, of 165.

Burnt area
19,106ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
17days
25 Jan 2016 – 10 Feb 2016
Municipalities hit
2
sub-prefectures
Started on
25 Jan
2016
Heat detections
782
in a single hotspot: 61 MW
Danger at start
57
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
4.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

11 Feb 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Jan10 Feb

How it evolved, day by day

252627282930311234567891011

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

The weather it burned in

39°high
44km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

It had gone 53 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
    14,431 ha reached on 25 Jan
    0.5 %
  2. Djema
    4,812 ha reached on 27 Jan
    0.1 %

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)
25 Jan 35.5 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
26 Jan 34.6 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
27 Jan 33.0 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
28 Jan 33.5 °C 9 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
29 Jan 32.4 °C 10 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
30 Jan 33.3 °C 10 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
31 Jan 34.8 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
1 Feb 36.0 °C 11 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
2 Feb 36.4 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
3 Feb 36.6 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
4 Feb 38.2 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
5 Feb 39.3 °C 11 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
6 Feb 39.0 °C 8 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
7 Feb 37.0 °C 9 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
8 Feb 36.0 °C 10 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
9 Feb 36.9 °C 8 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
10 Feb 37.3 °C 7 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
11 Feb after 36.1 °C 6 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
12 Feb after 36.5 °C 7 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
13 Feb after 37.7 °C 7 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
14 Feb after 38.0 °C 7 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
15 Feb after 38.5 °C 9 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
16 Feb after 39.6 °C 12 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
17 Feb after 39.2 °C 12 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
18 Feb after 38.6 °C 15 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
19 Feb after 40.0 °C 8 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
20 Feb after 39.6 °C 9 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 18 Jan 2016
After · 17 Feb 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 · 782Every 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 25 January 2016 to 10 February 2016 (17 days). The perimeter dates it from 30 January 2016 to 10 February 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 19,106 hectares (191.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Rafaï (14,431 ha, 0.5 %); Djema (4,812 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.3 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 65, 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.