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Vassako fire, 9 January 2016 Vassako

Out · last detection 29 Jan 2016, 11:27 UTC

The fire started on 9 January 2016 in Vassako, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,526 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 190th largest in Bamingui-Bangoran since 2016 (of 223 with a page). Number 138 in Central African Republic in 2016, of 165.

Burnt area
5,526ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
21days
9 Jan 2016 – 29 Jan 2016
Municipalities hit
1
sub-prefectures
Started on
9 Jan
2016
Heat detections
165
in a single hotspot: 43 MW
Danger at start
49
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
1.1GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

29 Jan 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Jan29 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

9101112131415161718192021222324262729

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
34km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 37 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. Vassako where it started
    5,556 ha reached on 9 Jan
    0.2 %

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)
9 Jan 38.7 °C 11 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
10 Jan 37.6 °C 9 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
11 Jan 37.2 °C 10 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
12 Jan 36.9 °C 12 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
13 Jan 37.6 °C 13 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
14 Jan 37.4 °C 12 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
15 Jan 37.3 °C 13 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
16 Jan 36.6 °C 13 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
17 Jan 36.7 °C 13 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
18 Jan 36.1 °C 13 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
19 Jan 36.0 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
20 Jan 36.6 °C 12 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
21 Jan 36.2 °C 12 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
22 Jan 36.1 °C 11 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
23 Jan 36.5 °C 10 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
24 Jan 35.9 °C 10 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
25 Jan 34.9 °C 12 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
26 Jan 34.8 °C 13 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
27 Jan 33.8 °C 13 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
28 Jan 34.5 °C 12 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
29 Jan 34.1 °C 11 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
30 Jan after 33.9 °C 12 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
31 Jan after 35.0 °C 13 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
1 Feb after 36.3 °C 13 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
2 Feb after 37.3 °C 14 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
3 Feb after 37.8 °C 13 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
4 Feb after 38.2 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
5 Feb after 39.3 °C 10 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
6 Feb after 39.1 °C 10 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
7 Feb after 37.5 °C 9 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
8 Feb after 36.4 °C 12 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 2 Jan 2016
After · 5 Feb 2016

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 · 165Every 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 Central African Republic ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Vassako fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 9 January 2016 to 29 January 2016 (21 days). The perimeter dates it from 12 January 2016 to 22 January 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,526 hectares (55.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Vassako (5,556 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.7 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, 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.

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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 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.