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Yinindougou fire, January 2016 Yinindougou, Gouanan

Out · last detection 29 Jan 2016, 02:03 UTC

The fire started on 20 January 2016 in Yinindougou, Mali, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,072 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 4th largest in Sikasso since 2016 (of 17 with a page). Number 17 in Mali in 2016, of 45.

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
3,072ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
10days
20 Jan 2016 – 29 Jan 2016
Municipalities hit
2
communes
Started on
20 Jan
2016
Heat detections
132
in a single hotspot: 19 MW
Danger at start
35
High · FWI index
Energy released
576MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

29 Jan 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Jan29 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

202223242526272829

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

The weather it burned in

35°high
42km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 12 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. Yinindougou where it started
    3,091 ha reached on 13 Jan
    3.1 %
  2. Gouanan
    1 ha
    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)
20 Jan 34.6 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
21 Jan 31.6 °C 19 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Jan 31.8 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
23 Jan 31.7 °C 18 % 39 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 41
24 Jan 33.9 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
25 Jan 33.2 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
26 Jan 32.3 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Jan 31.4 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
28 Jan 31.5 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Jan 29.9 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 Jan after 30.7 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
31 Jan after 30.9 °C 21 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
1 Feb after 31.6 °C 18 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
2 Feb after 30.1 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Feb after 31.9 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
4 Feb after 33.6 °C 18 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
5 Feb after 33.5 °C 17 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
6 Feb after 34.2 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
7 Feb after 34.3 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
8 Feb after 34.0 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 13 Jan 2016
After · 5 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 · 132Every 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 Mali ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Yinindougou fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 January 2016 and 29 January 2016: 10 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,072 hectares (30.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yinindougou (3,091 ha, 3.1 %); Gouanan (1 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mali (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 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.