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Rafaï fire, 18 December 2018 Rafaï, Djema

Out · last detection 25 Jan 2019, 11:50 UTC

The fire started on 18 December 2018 in Rafaï, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 39 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 80,071 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 5th largest in Mbomou since 2016 (of 80 with a page). Number 8 in Central African Republic in 2018, of 81.

Burnt area
80,071ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
39days
18 Dec 2018 – 25 Jan 2019
Municipalities hit
2
sub-prefectures
Started on
18 Dec
2018
Heat detections
4,558
in a single hotspot: 221 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Energy released
38.5GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Jan 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Dec25 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

181920212223242526272829303112345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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
39km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 43 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

81% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 29,091 ha in 2016, 37,735 ha in 2017, 18,061 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 65,103 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Rafaï where it started
    79,494 ha reached on 18 Dec
    2.9 %
  2. Djema
    1,198 ha reached on 18 Dec
    0.0 %

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 Dec 34.6 °C 13 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
19 Dec 35.1 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
20 Dec 34.7 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
21 Dec 34.7 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Dec 34.6 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 Dec 34.7 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
24 Dec 34.6 °C 18 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
25 Dec 35.5 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Dec 36.4 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
27 Dec 36.7 °C 16 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
28 Dec 34.7 °C 25 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
29 Dec 35.6 °C 20 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Dec 35.9 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
31 Dec 34.9 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Jan 35.4 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
2 Jan 36.6 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Jan 36.8 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
4 Jan 36.9 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
5 Jan 36.9 °C 15 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Jan 35.0 °C 25 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 Jan 35.5 °C 18 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Jan 35.4 °C 14 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
9 Jan 35.0 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
10 Jan 35.6 °C 15 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
11 Jan 37.2 °C 16 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
12 Jan 37.0 °C 16 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
13 Jan 36.8 °C 20 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
14 Jan 34.4 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
15 Jan 34.6 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Jan 34.3 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
17 Jan 36.2 °C 13 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
18 Jan 36.2 °C 13 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
19 Jan 36.6 °C 13 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
20 Jan 36.7 °C 11 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
21 Jan 37.0 °C 10 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
22 Jan 37.1 °C 11 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
23 Jan 36.8 °C 12 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
24 Jan 38.3 °C 11 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
25 Jan 36.8 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Jan after 37.1 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Jan after 36.0 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 Jan after 35.5 °C 32 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
29 Jan after 36.0 °C 26 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
30 Jan after 35.0 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
31 Jan after 37.8 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Feb after 38.1 °C 15 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
2 Feb after 37.8 °C 17 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
3 Feb after 37.5 °C 18 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Feb after 37.0 °C 25 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 Dec 2018
After · 1 Feb 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 · 4,558Every 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 December 2018 to 25 January 2019 (39 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 December 2018 to 25 January 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 80,071 hectares (800.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Rafaï (79,494 ha, 2.9 %); Djema (1,198 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.3 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, class Very high.
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.