Burned area
satellite only3,068ha
Union of 2 GWIS (Copernicus) perimeters: overlapping areas count once.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- 16 Feb 2024 – 6 Mar 2024
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
LR · Liberia · –
Zorzor fire, 16 February 2024 Zorzor
Out · last detection 6 Mar 2024, 13:26 UTC
The fire started on 16 February 2024 in Zorzor, Liberia, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,068 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 25th largest in Lofa since 2016 (of 202 with a page). Number 3 in Liberia in 2024, of 30.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-27matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only20days
16 Feb 2024 to 6 Mar 2024: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 6 Mar 2024, 13:26 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only16 Feb 2024
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 16 Feb 2024
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only142
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 108 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 16 Feb 2024 – 6 Mar 2024
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only360MW
Total radiative power on 27 February 2024; hotspots that day: 19.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 27 Feb 2024
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model37.0FWI · high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 60.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 16 Feb 2024, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model37.5°C · 20% RH
High of 37.5 °C and minimum humidity of 20% on 20 February 2024; gusts of 42 km/h on 3 March 2024.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 16 Feb 2024 – 6 Mar 2024
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
Living inside
model≈ 100people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 0.60 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2025).
- Source
- GHSL R2023A · JRC
- Date
- calculated on 24 October 2026
+− cross-check
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.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
logStart date: 23 February 2024 → 16 February 2024.
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
What was saved on 27 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 3,125 ha
- Dates
- 16 Feb 2024 – 6 Mar 2024
- Name
- Zorzor
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/zorzor-2024-02?v=2026-10-27A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire zorzor-2024-02.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-02-16 | 8 | 129 | 36.5 | 23.3 | 31 | 12.1 | 28.8 | 0 | 37 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-17 | 4 | 135 | 34.4 | 24.1 | 30 | 12.3 | 26.3 | 0 | 37.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-18 | 3 | 76 | 36 | 24.8 | 37 | 14.4 | 30.6 | 0.1 | 37.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-19 | 5 | 50 | 35.2 | 23.7 | 43 | 11.2 | 29.2 | 0.6 | 26.9 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-20 | 3 | 18 | 37.5 | 23.6 | 20 | 8.9 | 23.8 | 0 | 37.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-21 | 4 | 89 | 37.3 | 23.2 | 26 | 12.9 | 31.3 | 0 | 41.9 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-22 | 8 | 90 | 36.9 | 23.1 | 21 | 10.5 | 26.6 | 0 | 39.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-23 | 10 | 44 | 35.1 | 21.7 | 17 | 8.7 | 24.5 | 0 | 39.6 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-24 | 3 | 63 | 37.5 | 22 | 15 | 9.2 | 22 | 0 | 43.2 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-25 | 5 | 60 | 37.5 | 20.4 | 18 | 13.2 | 28.4 | 0 | 47.7 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-26 | 1 | 11 | 36.4 | 21.8 | 25 | 11.7 | 23.4 | 0 | 43.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-27 | 19 | 360 | 35.2 | 24.9 | 45 | 10.7 | 24.8 | 1.4 | 20 | moderado | 1 |
| 2024-02-28 | 20 | 276 | 36.1 | 25.6 | 40 | 14.2 | 31.7 | 0.2 | 29.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-02-29 | 4 | 45 | 34.8 | 24.7 | 36 | 14.1 | 31 | 0 | 31.9 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-03-01 | 11 | 56 | 36.9 | 23.6 | 30 | 16.4 | 34.2 | 0 | 38.7 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-03-02 | 0 | 0 | 36.7 | 22 | 29 | 12.4 | 27.4 | 0 | 36 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-03-03 | 9 | 93 | 35.9 | 25.2 | 30 | 16.3 | 42.1 | 0.4 | 39.7 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-03-04 | 19 | 323 | 36 | 22.5 | 36 | 13.2 | 26.6 | 0 | 37.1 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-03-05 | 1 | 9 | 36.5 | 24 | 31 | 13.2 | 27 | 0 | 37.3 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-03-06 | 5 | 86 | 36.9 | 23.7 | 32 | 13.9 | 31.3 | 0 | 38.1 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2024-03-07 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 23.6 | 35 | 19.4 | 39.6 | 0.3 | 43.6 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2024-03-08 | 0 | 0 | 34.8 | 22.4 | 46 | 12.3 | 30.2 | 0.5 | 31 | alto | 0 |
| 2024-03-09 | 0 | 0 | 36.1 | 24.5 | 42 | 10 | 23.8 | 1.7 | 18.3 | moderado | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: GWIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 3,068ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 20days
- 16 Feb 2024 – 6 Mar 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 16 Feb
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 142
- in a single hotspot: 108 MW
- Danger at start
- 37
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 106MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
16 Feb6 Mar
6 Mar 2024
How it evolved, day by day
16 Feb
20 Feb
24 Feb
27 Feb
4 Mar
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
42km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.7 mm on 9 Mar.
This area had burned before
68% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,197 ha in 2016, 943 ha in 2019, 1,638 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,089 ha that had burned before.
- 1,451 ha Zorzor fire, February 2020 2,989 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 503 ha Zorzor fire, February 2019 3,165 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 440 ha Zorzor fire, February 2019 1,139 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 393 ha Zorzor fire, March 2016 2,639 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 288 ha Zorzor fire, March 2016 1,177 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 186 ha Zorzor fire, March 2020 1,307 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 137 ha Zorzor fire, March 2016 1,022 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Zorzor where it started3,146 ha reached on 16 Feb1.0 %
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 2025Built-up area0.60 ha
Residents≈ 100
Inside the perimeter there were about 0.60 hectares of built-up land and about 100 residents (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
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 Feb | 36.5 °C | 31 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 17 Feb | 34.4 °C | 30 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 18 Feb | 36.0 °C | 37 % | 31 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 37 |
| 19 Feb | 35.2 °C | 43 % | 29 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 27 |
| 20 Feb | 37.5 °C | 20 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 21 Feb | 37.3 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 22 Feb | 36.9 °C | 21 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 23 Feb | 35.1 °C | 17 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 24 Feb | 37.5 °C | 15 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 25 Feb | 37.5 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 26 Feb | 36.4 °C | 25 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 27 Feb | 35.2 °C | 45 % | 25 km/h | 1.4 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 28 Feb | 36.1 °C | 40 % | 32 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 30 |
| 29 Feb | 34.8 °C | 36 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 1 Mar | 36.9 °C | 30 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 2 Mar | 36.7 °C | 29 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 3 Mar | 35.9 °C | 30 % | 42 km/h | 0.4 mm | Very high 40 |
| 4 Mar | 36.0 °C | 36 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 5 Mar | 36.5 °C | 31 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 6 Mar | 36.9 °C | 32 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 7 Mar after | 36.0 °C | 35 % | 40 km/h | 0.3 mm | Very high 44 |
| 8 Mar after | 34.8 °C | 46 % | 30 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 31 |
| 9 Mar after | 36.1 °C | 42 % | 24 km/h | 1.7 mm | Moderate 18 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 37.0, a minimum humidity of 31% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 25.
FWI at the start
37.0
Minimum humidity
31 %
Days without rain
60+
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Zorzor fire, 16 February 2024
3,068 ha
20 days
FWI 37.0
Min. humidity 31 %
Komodou fire, February 2019
2,719 ha
12 days
FWI 37.0
Min. humidity 32 %
191 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Tokounou fire, February 2017
2,767 ha
4 days
FWI 38.4
Min. humidity 31 %
205 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Nionsomoridou fire, February 2019
2,033 ha
12 days
FWI 38.5
Min. humidity 33 %
137 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.2 mm on 18 Feb.
Manfran fire, February 2019
26,628 ha
11 days
FWI 39.7
Min. humidity 30 %
156 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.1 mm on 17 Feb.
Bolodou fire, January 2018
2,236 ha
2 days
FWI 35.4
Min. humidity 30 %
140 km away, in 2018
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.1 mm on 2 Feb.
What happened to them
- 10 days
- median duration
- 2,696 ha
- median area
- 100 %
- went past 1,000 ha
- 2.8 mm
- rain at the end (median; 11 of 25 had it)
It burned an area similar to its twins (3,068 ha against a median of 2,696 ha) and lasted 20 days, against 10 days.
In 14 of 25, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.8 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
1.7 mmfirst rain
9 Mar3 days after it ended
42km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 6 Mar, and on 9 Mar 1.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 11 of 25, with a median of 2.8 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
- Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
- Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
- Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
- Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
- They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 9 Feb 2024
After · 13 Mar 2024
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 23 February 2024 the air beside the fire reached 168 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 102: 6.8 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak168 µg/m³
Days over the guideline18 days
PM10263 µg/m³
Optical depth1.87
WHO 15
21 Feb25 Feb29 Feb4 Mar8 Mar
Good
Fair
Moderate
Poor
Very poor
Extremely poor
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 · 142Every 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 time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 4,095 haZorzor17 February 2026 · 12 days · 4 km away
- 10,169 haZorzor6 March 2026 · 16 days · 6 km away
- 3,324 haZorzor7 March 2022 · 12 days · 12 km away
- 4,807 haZorzor21 February 2019 · 26 days · 13 km away
- 6,043 haZorzor23 February 2025 · 15 days · 16 km away
- 4,951 haKoyamahMarch 2018 · 7 days · 19 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Zorzor fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 16 February 2024 to 6 March 2024 (20 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 February 2024 to 6 March 2024.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,068 hectares (30.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Zorzor (3,146 ha, 1.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.5 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Liberia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
- How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
- Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 25. Their median duration was 10 days and their median area 2,696 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 14 of 25, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.8 mm.
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.
- Start date: 23 February 2024 → 16 February 2024.
RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 23 February 2024 to 6 March 2024. 142 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 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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 ADM2 (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.