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Yalinga fire, 23 December 2018 Yalinga, Rafaï

Out · last detection 3 Feb 2019, 12:21 UTC

The fire started on 23 December 2018 in Yalinga, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 43 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 267,715 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 3th largest in Haute-Kotto since 2016 (of 372 with a page). The largest in Central African Republic in 2018, of 81.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Yalinga · 2017Yalinga · 2018Yalinga · 2017Rafaï · 2016

Burnt area
267,715ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
43days
23 Dec 2018 – 3 Feb 2019
Municipalities hit
2
sub-prefectures
Started on
23 Dec
2018
Heat detections
11,958
in a single hotspot: 398 MW
Danger at start
53
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
2.3GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 23 Dec3 Feb
3 Feb 2019

How it evolved, day by day

23 Dec 2018 · 85 MW · 14 24 Dec 2018 · 1,066 MW · 55 25 Dec 2018 · 1,332 MW · 59 26 Dec 2018 · 1,640 MW · 150 27 Dec 2018 · 407 MW · 21 28 Dec 2018 · 1,981 MW · 80 29 Dec 2018 · 1,469 MW · 141 30 Dec 2018 · 4,051 MW · 265 31 Dec 2018 · 1,776 MW · 291 1 Jan 2019 · 198 MW · 114 2 Jan 2019 · 3,285 MW · 455 3 Jan 2019 · 6,850 MW · 573 4 Jan 2019 · 2,839 MW · 476 5 Jan 2019 · 3,661 MW · 672 6 Jan 2019 · 6,846 MW · 1107 7 Jan 2019 · 2,960 MW · 402 8 Jan 2019 · 2,346 MW · 450 9 Jan 2019 · 3,801 MW · 597 10 Jan 2019 · 3,269 MW · 665 11 Jan 2019 · 6,522 MW · 1042 12 Jan 2019 · 3,913 MW · 634 13 Jan 2019 · 4,715 MW · 321 14 Jan 2019 · 1,123 MW · 129 15 Jan 2019 · 2,570 MW · 335 16 Jan 2019 · 3,956 MW · 525 17 Jan 2019 · 1,474 MW · 220 18 Jan 2019 · 546 MW · 151 19 Jan 2019 · 1,340 MW · 137 20 Jan 2019 · 4,627 MW · 234 21 Jan 2019 · 4,320 MW · 282 22 Jan 2019 · 4,894 MW · 541 23 Jan 2019 · 1,181 MW · 239 24 Jan 2019 · 1,901 MW · 191 25 Jan 2019 · 847 MW · 126 26 Jan 2019 · 722 MW · 46 27 Jan 2019 · 691 MW · 113 28 Jan 2019 · 22 MW · 3 30 Jan 2019 · 20 MW · 2 31 Jan 2019 · 155 MW · 20 1 Feb 2019 · 267 MW · 70 2 Feb 2019 · 43 MW · 7 3 Feb 2019 · 7 MW · 3
23 Dec 29 Dec 3 Jan 4 Jan 10 Jan 16 Jan 22 Jan 28 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
40km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 48 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

79% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 125,112 ha in 2016, 148,728 ha in 2017, 76,291 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 212,700 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.7 times the area of London (2,677 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. Yalinga where it started
    264,501 ha reached on 23 Dec
    6.4 %
  2. Rafaï
    4,495 ha reached on 24 Dec
    0.2 %

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 2020
Built-up area0.56 ha
Residents≈ 100

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.56 hectares of built-up land and about 100 residents (GHSL 2020, 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.

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)
23 Dec 34.0 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
24 Dec 34.1 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
25 Dec 34.9 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Dec 35.7 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
27 Dec 36.2 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Dec 35.2 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Dec 34.9 °C 18 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
30 Dec 35.3 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
31 Dec 34.4 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
1 Jan 34.9 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
2 Jan 36.6 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Jan 35.6 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
4 Jan 36.3 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
5 Jan 36.6 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
6 Jan 35.7 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
7 Jan 35.0 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
8 Jan 34.8 °C 14 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Jan 34.9 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
10 Jan 35.8 °C 13 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
11 Jan 37.2 °C 14 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
12 Jan 37.7 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
13 Jan 37.8 °C 13 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
14 Jan 34.4 °C 25 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
15 Jan 34.8 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
16 Jan 35.1 °C 26 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
17 Jan 35.5 °C 11 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
18 Jan 35.7 °C 11 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
19 Jan 36.6 °C 11 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
20 Jan 37.0 °C 10 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
21 Jan 37.2 °C 9 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Jan 37.3 °C 9 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
23 Jan 37.2 °C 10 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
24 Jan 37.8 °C 9 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
25 Jan 37.5 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
26 Jan 36.9 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
27 Jan 34.8 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
28 Jan 35.9 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
29 Jan 36.3 °C 20 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
30 Jan 36.3 °C 16 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
31 Jan 37.7 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
1 Feb 37.8 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
2 Feb 38.1 °C 14 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
3 Feb 37.8 °C 14 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
4 Feb after 37.4 °C 16 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Feb after 37.2 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
6 Feb after 36.6 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
7 Feb after 37.4 °C 11 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Feb after 37.5 °C 11 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
9 Feb after 37.7 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
10 Feb after 38.0 °C 15 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
11 Feb after 35.8 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
12 Feb after 36.9 °C 12 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
13 Feb after 38.2 °C 10 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 16 Dec 2018
After · 10 Feb 2019

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 · 11,958Every 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 23 December 2018 to 3 February 2019 (43 days). The perimeter dates it from 28 December 2018 to 27 January 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 267,715 hectares (2,677.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yalinga (264,501 ha, 6.4 %); Rafaï (4,495 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 40 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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 28 January 2019 → 3 February 2019.
  2. Start date: 24 December 2018 → 23 December 2018.

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.

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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 8 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 28 December 2018 to 27 January 2019. 11,958 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 2020, 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.