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Rafaï fire, 18 January 2018 Rafaï, Djema

Out · last detection 30 Jan 2018, 10:59 UTC

The fire started on 18 January 2018 in Rafaï, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 17,116 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 20th largest in Mbomou since 2016 (of 80 with a page). Number 23 in Central African Republic in 2018, of 81.

Burnt area
17,116ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
15days
18 Jan 2018 – 1 Feb 2018
Municipalities hit
2
sub-prefectures
Started on
18 Jan
2018
Heat detections
619
in a single hotspot: 94 MW
Danger at start
51
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
4.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

30 Jan 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Jan1 Feb

How it evolved, day by day

181920212224252627282930

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
44km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 59 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

44% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,715 ha in 2016, 5,182 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Rafaï where it started
    13,963 ha reached on 18 Jan
    0.5 %
  2. Djema
    3,287 ha reached on 25 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)
18 Jan 35.0 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
19 Jan 35.0 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
20 Jan 35.2 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
21 Jan 35.5 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Jan 36.5 °C 11 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
23 Jan 35.9 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
24 Jan 34.4 °C 9 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
25 Jan 34.9 °C 11 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
26 Jan 34.4 °C 11 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
27 Jan 35.2 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
28 Jan 35.3 °C 10 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
29 Jan 35.3 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
30 Jan 35.1 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
31 Jan 34.6 °C 11 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
1 Feb 35.4 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
2 Feb after 36.4 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
3 Feb after 36.9 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
4 Feb after 36.9 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
5 Feb after 38.0 °C 11 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
6 Feb after 39.0 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
7 Feb after 39.7 °C 11 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
8 Feb after 40.1 °C 9 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
9 Feb after 38.8 °C 12 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
10 Feb after 37.2 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
11 Feb after 36.4 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 Jan 2018
After · 8 Feb 2018

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 · 619Every 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 18 January 2018 to 1 February 2018 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 January 2018 to 30 January 2018.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 17,116 hectares (171.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Rafaï (13,963 ha, 0.5 %); Djema (3,287 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.5 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 62, 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.