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Rafaï fire, 12 December 2016 Rafaï

Out · last detection 8 Jan 2017, 11:56 UTC

The fire started on 12 December 2016 in Rafaï, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 27 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 25,807 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 16th largest in Mbomou since 2016 (of 80 with a page). Number 16 in Central African Republic in 2016, of 165.

Burnt area
25,807ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
27days
12 Dec 2016 – 7 Jan 2017
Municipalities hit
1
sub-prefectures
Started on
12 Dec
2016
Heat detections
969
in a single hotspot: 93 MW
Danger at start
39
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
6.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

8 Jan 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Dec7 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

12131516171819202122232425262728293031145678

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
44km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone 9 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
    26,000 ha reached on 12 Dec
    0.9 %

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 34.9 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Dec 35.5 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
14 Dec 34.1 °C 14 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
15 Dec 31.1 °C 34 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
16 Dec 33.3 °C 17 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
17 Dec 34.6 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
18 Dec 34.5 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
19 Dec 34.3 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Dec 35.1 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
21 Dec 35.6 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
22 Dec 35.7 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 Dec 36.7 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
24 Dec 37.0 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
25 Dec 36.1 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
26 Dec 34.9 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Dec 35.7 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
28 Dec 34.7 °C 19 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
29 Dec 34.8 °C 16 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
30 Dec 35.4 °C 15 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
31 Dec 36.1 °C 13 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
1 Jan 35.9 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
2 Jan 34.0 °C 20 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
3 Jan 34.6 °C 15 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Jan 36.0 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
5 Jan 35.7 °C 14 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
6 Jan 36.9 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
7 Jan 37.0 °C 11 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
8 Jan after 36.9 °C 8 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
9 Jan after 35.8 °C 10 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
10 Jan after 36.0 °C 10 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
11 Jan after 36.4 °C 10 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
12 Jan after 37.7 °C 9 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
13 Jan after 37.1 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
14 Jan after 36.2 °C 13 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
15 Jan after 38.0 °C 9 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
16 Jan after 38.6 °C 9 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
17 Jan after 38.8 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Dec 2016
After · 14 Jan 2017

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 · 969Every 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 12 December 2016 to 7 January 2017 (27 days). The perimeter dates it from 17 December 2016 to 1 January 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 25,807 hectares (258.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Rafaï (26,000 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 53, 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.