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Sakaraha fire, September 2020 Sakaraha

Out · last detection 27 Oct 2020, 11:22 UTC

The fire started on 12 September 2020 in Sakaraha, Madagascar, and satellites saw it burning for 46 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,982 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

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 13th largest in Atsimo-Andrefana since 2016 (of 49 with a page). Number 4 in Madagascar in 2020, of 52.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Sakaraha · 2019Sakaraha · 2016Sakaraha · 2017Toliary-II · 2017

Burnt area
7,982ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
46days
12 Sept 2020 – 27 Oct 2020
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
12 Sept
2020
Heat detections
895
in a single hotspot: 132 MW
Danger at start
40
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
247MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Sept27 Oct
27 Oct 2020

How it evolved, day by day

12 Sept 2020 · 5 MW · 2 14 Sept 2020 · 103 MW · 14 16 Sept 2020 · 7 MW · 1 17 Sept 2020 · 16 MW · 3 18 Sept 2020 · 443 MW · 24 19 Sept 2020 · 574 MW · 47 20 Sept 2020 · 62 MW · 8 21 Sept 2020 · 17 MW · 3 22 Sept 2020 · 12 MW · 2 24 Sept 2020 · 186 MW · 15 25 Sept 2020 · 347 MW · 28 26 Sept 2020 · 1,049 MW · 53 27 Sept 2020 · 424 MW · 30 28 Sept 2020 · 257 MW · 23 29 Sept 2020 · 191 MW · 31 30 Sept 2020 · 104 MW · 13 1 Oct 2020 · 261 MW · 42 2 Oct 2020 · 972 MW · 81 3 Oct 2020 · 1,267 MW · 46 4 Oct 2020 · 572 MW · 33 5 Oct 2020 · 587 MW · 43 6 Oct 2020 · 145 MW · 23 7 Oct 2020 · 312 MW · 44 8 Oct 2020 · 177 MW · 20 9 Oct 2020 · 76 MW · 15 10 Oct 2020 · 187 MW · 23 11 Oct 2020 · 62 MW · 14 12 Oct 2020 · 345 MW · 37 13 Oct 2020 · 33 MW · 10 14 Oct 2020 · 66 MW · 16 15 Oct 2020 · 73 MW · 14 16 Oct 2020 · 60 MW · 11 17 Oct 2020 · 264 MW · 22 18 Oct 2020 · 136 MW · 21 19 Oct 2020 · 366 MW · 28 20 Oct 2020 · 275 MW · 19 21 Oct 2020 · 244 MW · 18 22 Oct 2020 · 42 MW · 7 23 Oct 2020 · 32 MW · 4 24 Oct 2020 · 6 MW · 1 26 Oct 2020 · 9 MW · 3 27 Oct 2020 · 9 MW · 3
12 Sept 20 Sept 27 Sept 3 Oct 9 Oct 15 Oct 21 Oct

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
55km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

83% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,565 ha in 2016, 3,190 ha in 2017, 6,809 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,650 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 5% of the area of London (80 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. Sakaraha where it started
    8,018 ha reached on 12 Sept
    0.9 %

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.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area0.15 ha
Residents≈ 40

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.15 hectares of built-up land and about 40 residents (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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 Sept 32.0 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
13 Sept 34.3 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
14 Sept 34.1 °C 23 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Sept 30.4 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Sept 33.3 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
17 Sept 34.2 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
18 Sept 35.8 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
19 Sept 34.8 °C 11 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
20 Sept 34.0 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
21 Sept 31.1 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
22 Sept 29.7 °C 28 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
23 Sept 29.7 °C 23 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Sept 31.4 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Sept 32.4 °C 20 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
26 Sept 32.8 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
27 Sept 32.6 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
28 Sept 32.2 °C 26 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Sept 31.9 °C 26 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
30 Sept 31.7 °C 28 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
1 Oct 32.8 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 43
2 Oct 34.9 °C 16 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
3 Oct 33.2 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 45
4 Oct 32.1 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
5 Oct 30.8 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 42
6 Oct 29.7 °C 32 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
7 Oct 29.3 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.6 mm High 32
8 Oct 29.1 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
9 Oct 30.5 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
10 Oct 33.0 °C 27 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
11 Oct 32.7 °C 33 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
12 Oct 30.4 °C 35 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Oct 30.8 °C 38 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
14 Oct 29.1 °C 36 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
15 Oct 33.4 °C 28 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
16 Oct 30.8 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
17 Oct 33.1 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
18 Oct 33.8 °C 23 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
19 Oct 33.6 °C 25 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Oct 36.3 °C 20 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
21 Oct 36.2 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Oct 35.5 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
23 Oct 33.6 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.5 mm Very high 49
24 Oct 34.3 °C 29 % 35 km/h 5.2 mm Moderate 12
25 Oct 33.9 °C 30 % 30 km/h 2.5 mm Moderate 15
26 Oct 30.7 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.7 mm High 25
27 Oct 31.0 °C 28 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
28 Oct after 32.6 °C 29 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Oct after 34.2 °C 26 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
30 Oct after 34.0 °C 24 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
31 Oct after 32.7 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
1 Nov after 32.0 °C 39 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm High 31
2 Nov after 33.7 °C 26 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
3 Nov after 34.1 °C 25 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
4 Nov after 31.7 °C 40 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
5 Nov after 32.6 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
6 Nov after 33.4 °C 26 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 37

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Sept 2020
After · 3 Nov 2020

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 · 895Every 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 Madagascar ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Sakaraha fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 12 September 2020 to 27 October 2020 (46 days). The perimeter dates it from 19 September 2020 to 20 October 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 7,982 hectares (79.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Sakaraha (8,018 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.3 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Madagascar (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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 20 October 2020 → 27 October 2020.
  2. Start date: 19 September 2020 → 12 September 2020.

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.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 19 September 2020 to 20 October 2020. 895 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.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

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 ADM2 (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.