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Toliary-II fire, September 2020 Toliary-II

Out · last detection 3 Nov 2020, 10:50 UTC

The fire started on 18 September 2020 in Toliary-II, Madagascar, and satellites saw it burning for 46 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 20,892 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.

It is the 2th largest in Atsimo-Andrefana since 2016 (of 45 with a page). The largest in Madagascar in 2020, of 52.

Burnt area
20,892ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
46days
18 Sept 2020 – 2 Nov 2020
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
18 Sept
2020
Heat detections
2,458
in a single hotspot: 171 MW
Danger at start
39
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
27.3GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

3 Nov 2020
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Sept2 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

181920212223242526272829301234567891011121314151617181920212223262728293031123

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

39°high
48km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.1 mm on 12 Nov.

This area had burned before

91% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8,903 ha in 2016, 18,114 ha in 2017, 14,208 ha in 2018, 20,138 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 18,930 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Toliary-II where it started
    20,957 ha reached on 11 Sept
    2.2 %

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)
11 Sept 32.3 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 39
12 Sept 32.9 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
13 Sept 33.9 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 Sept 34.5 °C 21 % 48 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 50
15 Sept 31.0 °C 29 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Sept 33.2 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
17 Sept 34.7 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
18 Sept 36.5 °C 11 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
19 Sept 35.2 °C 9 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
20 Sept 35.4 °C 9 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
21 Sept 32.2 °C 23 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Sept 30.5 °C 29 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
23 Sept 28.7 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Sept 31.1 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
25 Sept 32.5 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
26 Sept 33.8 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Sept 33.0 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
28 Sept 32.2 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
29 Sept 32.3 °C 26 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 45
30 Sept 32.1 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
1 Oct 33.3 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 44
2 Oct 34.1 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
3 Oct 34.0 °C 29 % 36 km/h 1.3 mm High 33
4 Oct 31.9 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
5 Oct 29.7 °C 34 % 40 km/h 0.7 mm High 33
6 Oct 29.1 °C 35 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
7 Oct 29.4 °C 34 % 34 km/h 1.3 mm High 24
8 Oct 29.2 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
9 Oct 31.2 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
10 Oct 34.1 °C 25 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
11 Oct 34.2 °C 30 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
12 Oct 31.7 °C 35 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
13 Oct 31.7 °C 33 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
14 Oct 29.8 °C 32 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
15 Oct 33.7 °C 26 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
16 Oct 32.3 °C 24 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Oct 33.5 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
18 Oct 34.5 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
19 Oct 34.2 °C 24 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
20 Oct 36.9 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
21 Oct 37.2 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
22 Oct 36.6 °C 13 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
23 Oct 33.9 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.2 mm Extreme 51
24 Oct 34.9 °C 26 % 41 km/h 6.0 mm Moderate 13
25 Oct 33.8 °C 28 % 32 km/h 2.1 mm Moderate 21
26 Oct 31.1 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm High 31
27 Oct 32.3 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
28 Oct 33.5 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Oct 34.1 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
30 Oct 33.7 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
31 Oct 33.3 °C 26 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
1 Nov 32.9 °C 34 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
2 Nov 34.9 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
3 Nov after 35.7 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
4 Nov after 33.0 °C 37 % 44 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 39
5 Nov after 33.7 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
6 Nov after 34.7 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Nov after 36.1 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
8 Nov after 39.2 °C 21 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
9 Nov after 36.1 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
10 Nov after 34.7 °C 27 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
11 Nov after 32.7 °C 38 % 35 km/h 0.9 mm High 26
12 Nov after 29.0 °C 53 % 46 km/h 3.1 mm Low 10

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 Sept 2020
After · 9 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 · 2,458Every 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 Toliary-II fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 September 2020 and 2 November 2020: 46 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 20,892 hectares (208.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Toliary-II (20,957 ha, 2.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.2 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, 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

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 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.