Rafaï fire, 4 January 2017 Rafaï
The fire started on 4 January 2017 in Rafaï, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 44,055 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 11th largest in Mbomou since 2016 (of 80 with a page). Number 5 in Central African Republic in 2017, of 100.
- Burnt area
- 44,055ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 21days
- 4 Jan 2017 – 24 Jan 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 4 Jan
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 1,512
- in a single hotspot: 256 MW
- Danger at start
- 49
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 14.3GW
- 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 42 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
60% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 27,093 ha in 2016.
- 20,410 ha Rafaï fire, January 2016 40,527 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,199 ha Rafaï fire, February 2016 9,980 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 169 ha Rafaï fire, January 2016 125,550 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Rafaï where it started44,376 ha reached on 4 Jan1.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Jan | 36.6 °C | 14 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 5 Jan | 36.5 °C | 14 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 6 Jan | 37.6 °C | 12 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 7 Jan | 37.5 °C | 12 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 8 Jan | 37.4 °C | 9 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 9 Jan | 36.5 °C | 10 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 10 Jan | 36.4 °C | 11 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 11 Jan | 36.6 °C | 11 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 12 Jan | 37.8 °C | 10 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 13 Jan | 37.7 °C | 10 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 14 Jan | 37.0 °C | 12 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 15 Jan | 38.3 °C | 9 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 16 Jan | 38.9 °C | 9 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 17 Jan | 39.5 °C | 8 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 18 Jan | 39.1 °C | 8 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 19 Jan | 39.0 °C | 10 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 20 Jan | 38.7 °C | 11 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 21 Jan | 38.9 °C | 10 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 22 Jan | 39.0 °C | 11 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 23 Jan | 39.7 °C | 11 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 24 Jan | 37.5 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 25 Jan after | 36.2 °C | 24 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 26 Jan after | 36.7 °C | 24 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 27 Jan after | 36.4 °C | 21 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 28 Jan after | 37.5 °C | 12 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 29 Jan after | 35.3 °C | 25 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 30 Jan after | 36.2 °C | 16 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 31 Jan after | 37.1 °C | 13 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 1 Feb after | 38.1 °C | 7 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 2 Feb after | 36.1 °C | 7 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 3 Feb after | 35.5 °C | 8 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
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 · 1,512Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 62,728 haRafaï28 January 2023 · 30 days · 12 km away
- 40,527 haRafaï2 January 2016 · 20 days · 16 km away
- 92,402 haRafaï28 December 2016 · 35 days · 30 km away
- 80,071 haRafaï18 December 2018 · 39 days · 34 km away
- 58,216 haRafaï3 January 2016 · 22 days · 37 km away
- 131,336 haRafaï4 January 2020 · 38 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Rafaï fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 4 January 2017 to 24 January 2017 (21 days). The perimeter dates it from 4 January 2017 to 17 January 2017.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 44,055 hectares (440.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Rafaï (44,376 ha, 1.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.7 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 61, 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.