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Rafaï fire, 10 December 2018 Yalinga, Rafaï

Out · last detection 24 Jan 2019, 23:05 UTC

The fire started on 10 December 2018 in Rafaï, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 45 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 80,563 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 4th largest in Mbomou since 2016 (of 80 with a page). Number 7 in Central African Republic in 2018, of 81.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Yalinga · 2016Yalinga · 2017Rafaï · 2016Yalinga · 2016

Burnt area
80,563ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
45days
10 Dec 2018 – 23 Jan 2019
Municipalities hit
2
sub-prefectures
Started on
10 Dec
2018
Heat detections
3,325
in a single hotspot: 365 MW
Danger at start
31
High · FWI index
Average daily power
664MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Dec23 Jan
24 Jan 2019

How it evolved, day by day

10 Dec 2018 · 75 MW · 8 11 Dec 2018 · 524 MW · 31 12 Dec 2018 · 200 MW · 24 13 Dec 2018 · 696 MW · 33 14 Dec 2018 · 436 MW · 45 15 Dec 2018 · 274 MW · 68 16 Dec 2018 · 1,122 MW · 62 17 Dec 2018 · 578 MW · 48 18 Dec 2018 · 253 MW · 49 19 Dec 2018 · 2,320 MW · 109 20 Dec 2018 · 473 MW · 64 21 Dec 2018 · 155 MW · 58 22 Dec 2018 · 122 MW · 29 23 Dec 2018 · 235 MW · 36 24 Dec 2018 · 1,879 MW · 68 25 Dec 2018 · 1,400 MW · 67 26 Dec 2018 · 1,822 MW · 205 27 Dec 2018 · 441 MW · 28 28 Dec 2018 · 1,281 MW · 46 29 Dec 2018 · 342 MW · 40 30 Dec 2018 · 56 MW · 18 31 Dec 2018 · 94 MW · 35 1 Jan 2019 · 33 MW · 8 2 Jan 2019 · 81 MW · 18 3 Jan 2019 · 239 MW · 47 4 Jan 2019 · 131 MW · 33 5 Jan 2019 · 899 MW · 57 6 Jan 2019 · 523 MW · 164 7 Jan 2019 · 959 MW · 139 8 Jan 2019 · 763 MW · 161 9 Jan 2019 · 1,388 MW · 218 10 Jan 2019 · 1,279 MW · 202 11 Jan 2019 · 1,439 MW · 242 12 Jan 2019 · 835 MW · 98 13 Jan 2019 · 325 MW · 40 14 Jan 2019 · 178 MW · 15 15 Jan 2019 · 1,471 MW · 179 16 Jan 2019 · 2,581 MW · 250 17 Jan 2019 · 663 MW · 79 18 Jan 2019 · 14 MW · 11 19 Jan 2019 · 68 MW · 13 20 Jan 2019 · 643 MW · 19 21 Jan 2019 · 229 MW · 17 22 Jan 2019 · 688 MW · 86 23 Jan 2019 · 105 MW · 33 24 Jan 2019 · 207 MW · 25
10 Dec 17 Dec 24 Dec 31 Dec 7 Jan 14 Jan 16 Jan 21 Jan

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
40km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 36 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.1 mm on 28 Jan.

This area had burned before

90% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 79,263 ha in 2016, 26,011 ha in 2017, 23,449 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 72,591 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 51% of the area of London (806 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Yalinga
    51,311 ha reached on 14 Dec
    1.2 %
  2. Rafaï where it started
    29,744 ha reached on 10 Dec
    1.1 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area 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)
10 Dec 33.2 °C 25 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Dec 33.5 °C 18 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Dec 34.1 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Dec 34.7 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
14 Dec 34.9 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
15 Dec 35.7 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Dec 35.3 °C 20 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
17 Dec 35.6 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
18 Dec 33.9 °C 12 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
19 Dec 35.0 °C 14 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Dec 34.2 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Dec 34.3 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
22 Dec 34.0 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
23 Dec 34.3 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
24 Dec 34.4 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
25 Dec 35.2 °C 18 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
26 Dec 36.0 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
27 Dec 36.5 °C 16 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
28 Dec 35.4 °C 20 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
29 Dec 35.5 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 Dec 35.6 °C 14 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
31 Dec 34.4 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Jan 35.3 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
2 Jan 36.8 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
3 Jan 36.2 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
4 Jan 36.5 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
5 Jan 36.6 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
6 Jan 35.4 °C 21 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
7 Jan 35.2 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
8 Jan 34.7 °C 14 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
9 Jan 34.9 °C 14 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
10 Jan 35.7 °C 14 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
11 Jan 37.5 °C 14 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
12 Jan 37.5 °C 14 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
13 Jan 37.9 °C 14 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
14 Jan 34.6 °C 26 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
15 Jan 34.7 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Jan 34.4 °C 30 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
17 Jan 35.9 °C 12 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
18 Jan 35.7 °C 11 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
19 Jan 36.5 °C 12 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
20 Jan 36.9 °C 11 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
21 Jan 37.2 °C 9 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
22 Jan 37.2 °C 9 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
23 Jan 37.1 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
24 Jan after 38.3 °C 9 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
25 Jan after 37.0 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
26 Jan after 37.2 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
27 Jan after 35.6 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 Jan after 35.7 °C 29 % 27 km/h 2.1 mm Moderate 21

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 3 Dec 2018
After · 30 Jan 2019

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 · 3,325Every 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 10 December 2018 to 23 January 2019 (45 days). The perimeter dates it from 12 December 2018 to 16 January 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 80,563 hectares (805.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yalinga (51,311 ha, 1.2 %); Rafaï (29,744 ha, 1.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.9 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 40 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

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 4 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 12 December 2018 to 16 January 2019. 3,325 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.