Tansarga fire, November 2021 Diapaga, Tansarga
The fire started on 24 November 2021 in Tansarga, Burkina Faso, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,491 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 3th largest in Tapoa since 2016 (of 259 with a page). Number 5 in Burkina Faso in 2021, of 141.
- Burnt area
- 5,491ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 24 Nov 2021 – 28 Nov 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- communes
- Started on
- 24 Nov
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 206
- in a single hotspot: 125 MW
- Danger at start
- 44
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.1GW
- 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 35 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
50% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 843 ha in 2016, 1,848 ha in 2017, 48 ha in 2019, 287 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,757 ha that had burned before.
- 1,087 ha Tansarga fire, November 2017 1,305 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 575 ha Banikoara fire, November 2017 1,835 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 442 ha Diapaga fire, November 2016 1,091 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 401 ha Diapaga fire, December 2016 1,642 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 287 ha Diapaga fire, December 2020 1,078 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 185 ha Banikoara fire, December 2017 1,092 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 48 ha Banikoara fire, November 2019 3,380 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
2,689 ha reached on 24 Nov0.8 %
-
Tansarga where it started1,729 ha reached on 24 Nov2.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Nov | 37.7 °C | 17 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 25 Nov | 38.8 °C | 16 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 26 Nov | 37.7 °C | 14 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 27 Nov | 37.6 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 28 Nov | 37.8 °C | 11 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 29 Nov after | 38.0 °C | 11 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 30 Nov after | 37.2 °C | 10 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 1 Dec after | 36.8 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 2 Dec after | 37.1 °C | 14 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 3 Dec after | 36.3 °C | 13 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 4 Dec after | 36.1 °C | 10 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 5 Dec after | 36.3 °C | 12 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 6 Dec after | 36.9 °C | 11 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 7 Dec after | 36.3 °C | 11 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 8 Dec after | 35.2 °C | 11 % | 38 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 · 206Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Tansarga fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 24 November 2021 and 28 November 2021: 5 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 5,491 hectares (54.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Diapaga (2,689 ha, 0.8 %); Tansarga (1,729 ha, 2.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.8 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 36 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.