Thionthian fire, 23 April 2020 Thionthian, Tarihoye, Konsotami
The fire started on 23 April 2020 in Thionthian, Guinea, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,331 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 88th largest in Kindia since 2016 (of 242 with a page). Number 36 in Guinea in 2020, of 120.
- Burnt area
- 3,331ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 9days
- 23 Apr 2020 – 1 May 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 23 Apr
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 111
- in a single hotspot: 271 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 6.1GW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.2 mm on 2 May.
This area had burned before
65% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,477 ha in 2016, 499 ha in 2017, 1,024 ha in 2018, 462 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,165 ha that had burned before.
- 1,477 ha Thionthian fire, April 2016 4,512 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 451 ha Thionthian fire, April 2017 7,952 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 215 ha Thionthian fire, April 2018 3,634 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Thionthian where it started2,573 ha reached on 25 Apr4.0 %
-
757 ha reached on 27 Apr1.4 %
-
21 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Apr | 34.1 °C | 47 % | 29 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 24 Apr | 33.0 °C | 49 % | 29 km/h | 1.9 mm | Low 10 |
| 25 Apr | 34.9 °C | 34 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 26 Apr | 37.0 °C | 28 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 27 Apr | 35.9 °C | 32 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 28 Apr | 38.3 °C | 27 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 29 Apr | 35.6 °C | 42 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 30 Apr | 37.1 °C | 42 % | 24 km/h | 2.9 mm | Low 10 |
| 1 May | 35.8 °C | 44 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 2 May after | 36.0 °C | 45 % | 28 km/h | 2.2 mm | Low 11 |
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 · 111Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 9,219 haSogolon11 April 2017 · 10 days · 17 km away
- 9,116 haThionthian9 April 2016 · 11 days · 18 km away
- 10,531 haKonsotami19 April 2018 · 8 days · 23 km away
- 9,669 haSogolonApril 2026 · 21 days · 23 km away
- 14,183 haKonsotami19 April 2018 · 14 days · 24 km away
- 16,941 haKonsotami12 April 2017 · 9 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Thionthian fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 April 2020 and 1 May 2020: 9 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 3,331 hectares (33.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Thionthian (2,573 ha, 4.0 %); Tarihoye (757 ha, 1.4 %); Konsotami (21 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.3 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Guinea (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.
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 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.