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Yalinga fire, 4 December 2016 Yalinga, Djema

Out · last detection 23 Dec 2016, 11:57 UTC

The fire started on 4 December 2016 in Yalinga, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,265 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 152th largest in Haute-Kotto since 2016 (of 372 with a page). Number 67 in Central African Republic in 2016, of 165.

Burnt area
9,265ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
20days
4 Dec 2016 – 23 Dec 2016
Municipalities hit
2
sub-prefectures
Started on
4 Dec
2016
Heat detections
289
in a single hotspot: 87 MW
Danger at start
41
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
2.4GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

23 Dec 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 4 Dec23 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

456789101112131415161820212223

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
48km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone 15 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
    8,607 ha reached on 4 Dec
    0.2 %
  2. Djema
    729 ha reached on 7 Dec
    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)
4 Dec 34.1 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
5 Dec 34.7 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
6 Dec 35.2 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Dec 34.2 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
8 Dec 34.3 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
9 Dec 33.7 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
10 Dec 34.2 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
11 Dec 33.6 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
12 Dec 33.9 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
13 Dec 34.3 °C 13 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
14 Dec 33.5 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
15 Dec 32.0 °C 12 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
16 Dec 32.8 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
17 Dec 32.8 °C 13 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
18 Dec 32.9 °C 13 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
19 Dec 33.0 °C 15 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
20 Dec 33.7 °C 14 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
21 Dec 34.4 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
22 Dec 34.5 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
23 Dec 35.5 °C 15 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
24 Dec after 35.7 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
25 Dec after 34.4 °C 17 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
26 Dec after 33.8 °C 17 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
27 Dec after 32.9 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
28 Dec after 33.2 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
29 Dec after 34.9 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
30 Dec after 34.8 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
31 Dec after 34.0 °C 13 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
1 Jan after 35.0 °C 14 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
2 Jan after 33.9 °C 15 % 42 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 · 27 Nov 2016
After · 30 Dec 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 · 289Every 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 4 December 2016 to 23 December 2016 (20 days). The perimeter dates it from 9 December 2016 to 16 December 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 9,265 hectares (92.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yalinga (8,607 ha, 0.2 %); Djema (729 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.5 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, 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.