Skip to content
worldfires
en
CF · Central African Republic · →

Vokouma fire, 6 December 2025 Vokouma, Dar El Kouti

Out · last detection 22 Jan 2026, 12:09 UTC

The fire started on 6 December 2025 in Vokouma, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 48 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 81,230 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

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.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 2th largest in Vakaga since 2016 (of 83 with a page). Number 9 in Central African Republic in 2025, of 138.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Vokouma · 2017Vokouma · 2019Vokouma · 2017Vokouma · 2017

Burnt area
81,230ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
48days
6 Dec 2025 – 22 Jan 2026
Municipalities hit
2
sub-prefectures
Started on
6 Dec
2025
Heat detections
2,937
in a single hotspot: 216 MW
Danger at start
43
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
632MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Dec22 Jan
22 Jan 2026

How it evolved, day by day

6 Dec 2025 · 364 MW · 38 7 Dec 2025 · 104 MW · 16 8 Dec 2025 · 10 MW · 1 9 Dec 2025 · 138 MW · 20 10 Dec 2025 · 186 MW · 32 11 Dec 2025 · 47 MW · 10 12 Dec 2025 · 555 MW · 44 13 Dec 2025 · 1,642 MW · 226 14 Dec 2025 · 1,660 MW · 149 15 Dec 2025 · 520 MW · 76 16 Dec 2025 · 766 MW · 92 17 Dec 2025 · 548 MW · 68 18 Dec 2025 · 456 MW · 44 19 Dec 2025 · 608 MW · 72 20 Dec 2025 · 544 MW · 67 21 Dec 2025 · 683 MW · 46 22 Dec 2025 · 451 MW · 44 24 Dec 2025 · 146 MW · 19 25 Dec 2025 · 109 MW · 19 26 Dec 2025 · 217 MW · 27 27 Dec 2025 · 34 MW · 10 28 Dec 2025 · 122 MW · 12 29 Dec 2025 · 605 MW · 53 30 Dec 2025 · 304 MW · 32 31 Dec 2025 · 1,362 MW · 86 1 Jan 2026 · 2,966 MW · 191 2 Jan 2026 · 2,828 MW · 292 3 Jan 2026 · 1,330 MW · 172 4 Jan 2026 · 3,147 MW · 256 5 Jan 2026 · 1,435 MW · 84 6 Jan 2026 · 1,729 MW · 105 7 Jan 2026 · 795 MW · 118 8 Jan 2026 · 1,325 MW · 107 9 Jan 2026 · 57 MW · 35 10 Jan 2026 · 7 MW · 4 11 Jan 2026 · 67 MW · 11 12 Jan 2026 · 289 MW · 35 13 Jan 2026 · 93 MW · 23 14 Jan 2026 · 193 MW · 44 15 Jan 2026 · 10 MW · 2 16 Jan 2026 · 244 MW · 33 17 Jan 2026 · 217 MW · 32 18 Jan 2026 · 153 MW · 32 19 Jan 2026 · 314 MW · 26 20 Jan 2026 · 4 MW · 5 21 Jan 2026 · 141 MW · 10 22 Jan 2026 · 178 MW · 17
6 Dec 13 Dec 20 Dec 28 Dec 4 Jan 11 Jan 18 Jan

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
49km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

It had gone 45 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

81% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 17,201 ha in 2016, 30,001 ha in 2017, 1,381 ha in 2018, 16,009 ha in 2019, 9,412 ha in 2020, 17,686 ha in 2021, 8,191 ha in 2022, 14,670 ha in 2023, 17,853 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 65,499 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 51% of the area of London (812 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Vokouma where it started
    80,325 ha reached on 6 Dec
    9.0 %
  2. Dar El Kouti
    1,412 ha reached on 7 Dec
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
10 Dec 34.9 °C 19 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
11 Dec 34.5 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
12 Dec 35.7 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
13 Dec 35.4 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
14 Dec 34.6 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
15 Dec 33.2 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
16 Dec 32.7 °C 14 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
17 Dec 32.9 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
18 Dec 33.0 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
19 Dec 33.5 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
20 Dec 34.8 °C 15 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
21 Dec 36.1 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
22 Dec 36.5 °C 12 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
23 Dec 36.0 °C 10 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
24 Dec 37.3 °C 10 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 Dec 37.1 °C 10 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
26 Dec 37.4 °C 12 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
27 Dec 36.9 °C 12 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
28 Dec 36.3 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
29 Dec 35.3 °C 8 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
30 Dec 35.7 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
31 Dec 35.5 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
1 Jan 36.3 °C 10 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
2 Jan 37.0 °C 7 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
3 Jan 36.8 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
4 Jan 36.8 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
5 Jan 36.8 °C 10 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
6 Jan 36.5 °C 9 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
7 Jan 36.6 °C 11 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
8 Jan 36.8 °C 12 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
9 Jan 37.6 °C 12 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
10 Jan 35.6 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
11 Jan 34.9 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
12 Jan 35.5 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
13 Jan 35.5 °C 14 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
14 Jan 34.7 °C 13 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
15 Jan 34.3 °C 12 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
16 Jan 34.0 °C 13 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
17 Jan 35.8 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
18 Jan 36.3 °C 10 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
19 Jan 36.2 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
20 Jan 35.7 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
21 Jan 37.2 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
22 Jan 38.5 °C 14 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
23 Jan after 37.5 °C 22 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
24 Jan after 39.1 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
25 Jan after 39.4 °C 11 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 29 Nov 2025
After · 29 Jan 2026

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 14 December 2025 the air beside the fire reached 68 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 46: 3.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak68 µg/m³
Days over the guideline52 days
PM10215 µg/m³
Optical depth0.67
4567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303112345678910111213141516171819202122232425
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 2,937Every 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 Vokouma fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 December 2025 to 22 January 2026 (48 days). The perimeter dates it from 10 December 2025 to 15 January 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 81,230 hectares (812.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Vokouma (80,325 ha, 9.0 %); Dar El Kouti (1,412 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.6 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 69, 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

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 5 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 10 December 2025 to 15 January 2026. 2,937 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.