Sebba fire, 5 November 2023 Sebba, Solhan
The fire started on 5 November 2023 in Sebba, Burkina Faso, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,779 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 41th largest in Liptako since 2016 (of 222 with a page). Number 12 in Burkina Faso in 2023, of 261.
- Burnt area
- 3,779ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 5 Nov 2023 – 8 Nov 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- communes
- Started on
- 5 Nov
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 107
- in a single hotspot: 53 MW
- Danger at start
- 45
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.2GW
- 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 26 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Sebba where it started3,439 ha reached on 5 Nov3.0 %
-
363 ha reached on 6 Nov0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Nov | 39.7 °C | 17 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 6 Nov | 39.5 °C | 12 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 7 Nov | 39.4 °C | 11 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 8 Nov | 38.6 °C | 12 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 9 Nov after | 38.5 °C | 16 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 10 Nov after | 38.6 °C | 14 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 11 Nov after | 39.2 °C | 8 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 12 Nov after | 38.6 °C | 10 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 13 Nov after | 38.4 °C | 7 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 14 Nov after | 37.3 °C | 8 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 15 Nov after | 38.0 °C | 10 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 16 Nov after | 37.2 °C | 23 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 17 Nov after | 37.0 °C | 21 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 18 Nov after | 37.1 °C | 14 % | 45 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 · 107Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 7,829 haSebba1 November 2025 · 4 days · 2 km away
- 1,599 haSebba21 November 2024 · 2 days · 7 km away
- 3,176 haSebba10 November 2025 · 3 days · 9 km away
- 1,741 haSebba20 November 2024 · 2 days · 9 km away
- 1,663 haSolhan11 November 2023 · 3 days · 12 km away
- 5,461 haSebba17 November 2023 · 5 days · 13 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Sebba fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 5 November 2023 and 8 November 2023: 4 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,779 hectares (37.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Sebba (3,439 ha, 3.0 %); Solhan (363 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.7 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Burkina Faso (OCHA COD-AB). 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 OCHA COD-AB (Institut Geographique Burkina (IGB)) (Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-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.