Vassako fire, 5 January 2016 Vassako, Nana-Outa
The fire started on 5 January 2016 in Vassako, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,789 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 98th largest in Bamingui-Bangoran since 2016 (of 223 with a page). Number 84 in Central African Republic in 2016, of 165.
- Burnt area
- 7,789ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 12days
- 5 Jan 2016 – 16 Jan 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 5 Jan
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 254
- in a single hotspot: 51 MW
- Danger at start
- 48
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.6GW
- 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 more than two months 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
-
Vassako where it started6,984 ha reached on 6 Jan0.3 %
-
856 ha reached on 6 Jan0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Jan | 36.8 °C | 13 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 6 Jan | 37.9 °C | 13 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 7 Jan | 38.2 °C | 15 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 8 Jan | 38.6 °C | 11 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 9 Jan | 38.5 °C | 8 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 10 Jan | 37.3 °C | 8 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 11 Jan | 37.1 °C | 11 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 12 Jan | 36.9 °C | 13 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 13 Jan | 36.8 °C | 13 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 14 Jan | 36.7 °C | 13 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 15 Jan | 36.8 °C | 12 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 16 Jan | 36.4 °C | 14 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 17 Jan after | 36.2 °C | 14 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 18 Jan after | 35.1 °C | 13 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 19 Jan after | 35.1 °C | 12 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 20 Jan after | 36.4 °C | 13 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 21 Jan after | 35.8 °C | 12 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 22 Jan after | 35.8 °C | 11 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 23 Jan after | 35.9 °C | 10 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 24 Jan after | 34.4 °C | 10 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 25 Jan after | 33.9 °C | 12 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 26 Jan after | 33.4 °C | 15 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
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 · 254Every 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 Vassako fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 5 January 2016 to 16 January 2016 (12 days). The perimeter dates it from 5 January 2016 to 11 January 2016.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 7,789 hectares (77.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Vassako (6,984 ha, 0.3 %); Nana-Outa (856 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.6 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 30 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Central African Republic (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.