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Yalinga fire, 16 January 2021 Djema, Rafaï, Yalinga

Out · last detection 23 Feb 2021, 23:36 UTC

The fire started on 16 January 2021 in Yalinga, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 38 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 207,292 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 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 7th largest in Haute-Kotto since 2016 (of 372 with a page). The largest in Central African Republic in 2021, of 95.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Djema · 2020Yalinga · 2023Rafaï · 2018Rafaï · 2018

Burnt area
207,292ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
38days
16 Jan 2021 – 22 Feb 2021
Municipalities hit
3
sub-prefectures
Started on
16 Jan
2021
Heat detections
7,188
in a single hotspot: 259 MW
Danger at start
48
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
1.4GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Jan22 Feb
23 Feb 2021

How it evolved, day by day

16 Jan 2021 · 223 MW · 70 17 Jan 2021 · 210 MW · 43 18 Jan 2021 · 537 MW · 54 19 Jan 2021 · 528 MW · 72 20 Jan 2021 · 434 MW · 71 21 Jan 2021 · 328 MW · 68 22 Jan 2021 · 144 MW · 38 23 Jan 2021 · 543 MW · 87 24 Jan 2021 · 399 MW · 78 25 Jan 2021 · 1,790 MW · 124 26 Jan 2021 · 475 MW · 88 27 Jan 2021 · 4,050 MW · 540 28 Jan 2021 · 1,378 MW · 118 29 Jan 2021 · 2,441 MW · 357 30 Jan 2021 · 2,353 MW · 324 31 Jan 2021 · 3,219 MW · 506 1 Feb 2021 · 4,272 MW · 739 2 Feb 2021 · 3,845 MW · 392 3 Feb 2021 · 131 MW · 78 4 Feb 2021 · 525 MW · 59 5 Feb 2021 · 898 MW · 164 6 Feb 2021 · 1,815 MW · 449 7 Feb 2021 · 3,831 MW · 372 8 Feb 2021 · 6,655 MW · 534 9 Feb 2021 · 2,718 MW · 280 10 Feb 2021 · 1,475 MW · 267 11 Feb 2021 · 2,243 MW · 300 12 Feb 2021 · 1,666 MW · 352 13 Feb 2021 · 815 MW · 128 14 Feb 2021 · 1,417 MW · 86 15 Feb 2021 · 1,311 MW · 74 16 Feb 2021 · 573 MW · 43 18 Feb 2021 · 49 MW · 36 19 Feb 2021 · 129 MW · 22 20 Feb 2021 · 386 MW · 35 21 Feb 2021 · 157 MW · 38 22 Feb 2021 · 318 MW · 65 23 Feb 2021 · 100 MW · 37
16 Jan 22 Jan 28 Jan 3 Feb 8 Feb 9 Feb 15 Feb 22 Feb

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
53km/h · peak gust
6%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

79% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 101,246 ha in 2016, 38,784 ha in 2017, 71,518 ha in 2018, 64,728 ha in 2019, 135,074 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 164,478 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.3 times the area of London (2,073 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. Djema
    114,588 ha reached on 18 Jan
    3.1 %
  2. Rafaï
    82,175 ha reached on 29 Jan
    3.0 %
  3. Yalinga where it started
    11,918 ha reached on 16 Jan
    0.3 %

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 area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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)
16 Jan 35.1 °C 12 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
17 Jan 36.6 °C 11 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
18 Jan 36.8 °C 8 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
19 Jan 35.8 °C 12 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
20 Jan 35.0 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
21 Jan 34.9 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
22 Jan 35.5 °C 14 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
23 Jan 36.3 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
24 Jan 36.9 °C 14 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
25 Jan 37.4 °C 15 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
26 Jan 36.1 °C 13 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
27 Jan 37.1 °C 13 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
28 Jan 37.4 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
29 Jan 36.7 °C 8 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
30 Jan 36.6 °C 8 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
31 Jan 37.0 °C 8 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
1 Feb 37.6 °C 9 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
2 Feb 37.3 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
3 Feb 38.4 °C 11 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
4 Feb 38.0 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Feb 36.4 °C 10 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
6 Feb 34.6 °C 9 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
7 Feb 34.1 °C 9 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
8 Feb 34.6 °C 6 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
9 Feb 35.6 °C 8 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
10 Feb 36.2 °C 9 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
11 Feb 37.2 °C 10 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
12 Feb 37.2 °C 11 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
13 Feb 38.3 °C 12 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
14 Feb 38.3 °C 11 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
15 Feb 38.5 °C 9 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
16 Feb 38.5 °C 9 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
17 Feb 37.0 °C 11 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
18 Feb 32.6 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
19 Feb 33.7 °C 10 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
20 Feb 34.1 °C 9 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
21 Feb 35.2 °C 10 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
22 Feb 36.2 °C 10 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
23 Feb after 36.8 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
24 Feb after 36.1 °C 9 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
25 Feb after 35.5 °C 8 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
26 Feb after 36.7 °C 10 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
27 Feb after 37.6 °C 10 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
28 Feb after 38.3 °C 10 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
1 Mar after 37.9 °C 7 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
2 Mar after 38.5 °C 7 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
3 Mar after 38.6 °C 8 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
4 Mar after 38.2 °C 9 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Jan 2021
After · 1 Mar 2021

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 · 7,188Every 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 16 January 2021 to 22 February 2021 (38 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 January 2021 to 16 February 2021.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 207,292 hectares (2,072.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Djema (114,588 ha, 3.1 %); Rafaï (82,175 ha, 3.0 %); Yalinga (11,918 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.5 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 72, class Very 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 · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Start date: 17 January 2021 → 16 January 2021.

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; 5 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 23 January 2021 to 16 February 2021. 7,188 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.