Yalinga fire, 15 January 2026 Yalinga, Djema
The fire started on 15 January 2026 in Yalinga, Central African Republic, and satellites saw it burning for 29 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 67,968 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 27th largest in Haute-Kotto since 2016 (of 372 with a page). Number 6 in Central African Republic in 2026, of 148.
- Burnt area
- 67,968ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 29days
- 15 Jan 2026 – 12 Feb 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- sub-prefectures
- Started on
- 15 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 1,891
- in a single hotspot: 142 MW
- Danger at start
- 49
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 14.8GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
99% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 23,737 ha in 2016, 26,279 ha in 2017, 21,652 ha in 2018, 11,849 ha in 2019, 60,284 ha in 2020, 5,911 ha in 2021, 42,499 ha in 2022, 29,283 ha in 2023, 25,888 ha in 2024, 25,792 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 67,416 ha that had burned before.
- 675 ha Yalinga fire, January 2023 96,833 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 188 ha Djema fire, January 2020 307,099 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 15 ha Yalinga fire, January 2021 207,292 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Yalinga where it started66,130 ha reached on 15 Jan1.6 %
-
2,214 ha reached on 17 Jan0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Jan | 35.5 °C | 11 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 19 Jan | 35.8 °C | 13 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 20 Jan | 36.0 °C | 14 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 21 Jan | 37.0 °C | 15 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 22 Jan | 36.8 °C | 16 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 23 Jan | 36.1 °C | 20 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 24 Jan | 37.8 °C | 15 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 25 Jan | 37.8 °C | 11 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 26 Jan | 37.8 °C | 10 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 27 Jan | 37.4 °C | 11 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 28 Jan | 36.3 °C | 12 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 29 Jan | 35.8 °C | 11 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 30 Jan | 36.6 °C | 11 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 31 Jan | 36.6 °C | 12 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 1 Feb | 34.8 °C | 17 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 2 Feb | 36.2 °C | 12 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 3 Feb | 37.2 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 4 Feb | 37.1 °C | 11 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 5 Feb | 38.0 °C | 11 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 6 Feb | 34.6 °C | 20 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 7 Feb | 37.1 °C | 10 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 8 Feb | 36.7 °C | 8 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 9 Feb | 35.1 °C | 17 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 10 Feb | 35.3 °C | 17 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 11 Feb | 36.4 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 12 Feb | 36.6 °C | 16 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 13 Feb after | 37.3 °C | 14 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 14 Feb after | 36.2 °C | 11 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 15 Feb after | 36.6 °C | 9 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 16 Feb after | 37.6 °C | 13 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 17 Feb after | 37.8 °C | 16 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 18 Feb after | 34.6 °C | 22 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 19 Feb after | 35.0 °C | 19 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 20 Feb after | 36.1 °C | 13 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 21 Feb after | 37.0 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 22 Feb after | 36.2 °C | 10 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · CopernicusOn 9 February 2026 the air beside the fire reached 141 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 77: 5.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 1,891Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Yalinga fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 January 2026 to 12 February 2026 (29 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 January 2026 to 12 February 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 67,968 hectares (679.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yalinga (66,130 ha, 1.6 %); Djema (2,214 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.0 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, 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
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.