Skip to content
worldfires
CF · Central African Republic · →

Yalinga fire, 24 January 2016 Yalinga

Out · last detection 31 Jan 2016, 23:26 UTC

The fire started on 24 January 2016 in Yalinga, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,954 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 291th largest in Haute-Kotto since 2016 (of 372 with a page). Number 121 in Central African Republic in 2016, of 165.

The power measured by the satellite is low (19.0 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
5,954ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
15days
24 Jan 2016 – 7 Feb 2016
Municipalities hit
1
sub-prefectures
Started on
24 Jan
2016
Heat detections
178
in a single hotspot: 19 MW
Danger at start
52
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
694MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

31 Jan 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 24 Jan7 Feb

How it evolved, day by day

24262728293031

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
44km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 52 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. Yalinga where it started
    5,985 ha reached on 24 Jan
    0.1 %

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)
24 Jan 36.6 °C 9 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
25 Jan 34.6 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
26 Jan 33.9 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
27 Jan 32.6 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
28 Jan 33.2 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
29 Jan 31.8 °C 10 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
30 Jan 32.8 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
31 Jan 34.3 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
1 Feb 35.4 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
2 Feb 36.5 °C 12 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
3 Feb 36.6 °C 11 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
4 Feb 37.8 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
5 Feb 38.7 °C 11 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
6 Feb 38.3 °C 9 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
7 Feb 36.4 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
8 Feb after 35.7 °C 11 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
9 Feb after 36.7 °C 9 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
10 Feb after 36.8 °C 7 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
11 Feb after 35.7 °C 7 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
12 Feb after 36.1 °C 7 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
13 Feb after 37.3 °C 7 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
14 Feb after 37.6 °C 7 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
15 Feb after 38.7 °C 10 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
16 Feb after 39.3 °C 12 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
17 Feb after 39.5 °C 12 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 17 Jan 2016
After · 14 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 · 178Every 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 Yalinga fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 24 January 2016 to 7 February 2016 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 26 January 2016 to 31 January 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,954 hectares (59.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Yalinga (5,985 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.7 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 63, 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
What do you think is wrong?

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

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.