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Tomora fire, November 2020 Tomora, Diakon

Out · last detection 24 Nov 2020, 14:30 UTC

The fire started on 22 November 2020 in Tomora, Mali, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,429 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 47th largest in Kayes since 2016 (of 337 with a page). Number 6 in Mali in 2020, of 61.

The power measured by the satellite is low (16.8 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
4,429ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
3days
22 Nov 2020 – 24 Nov 2020
Municipalities hit
2
communes
Started on
22 Nov
2020
Heat detections
112
in a single hotspot: 17 MW
Danger at start
55
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
478MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Nov 2020
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Nov24 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

222324

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
43km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 36 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

  1. Tomora where it started
    4,400 ha reached on 22 Nov
    2.2 %
  2. Diakon
    59 ha reached on 23 Nov
    0.0 %

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)
22 Nov 38.2 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
23 Nov 38.4 °C 13 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
24 Nov 36.2 °C 14 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
25 Nov after 34.9 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
26 Nov after 35.4 °C 10 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
27 Nov after 37.5 °C 8 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Nov after 37.5 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
29 Nov after 36.9 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
30 Nov after 38.7 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
1 Dec after 39.9 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
2 Dec after 40.6 °C 14 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
3 Dec after 40.1 °C 15 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
4 Dec after 41.4 °C 14 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 15 Nov 2020
After · 1 Dec 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 · 112Every 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 Mali ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Tomora fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 November 2020 and 24 November 2020: 3 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 4,429 hectares (44.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tomora (4,400 ha, 2.2 %); Diakon (59 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.4 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mali (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 ADM3 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.