Fire accompanied the Monkey in the Chinese zodiac year beginning on February 8, 2016.
The year is therefore known as the Year of the Fire Monkey. Chinese zodiac designations pair an animal with an element, and the element changes according to the repeating heavenly-stem cycle rather than staying fixed for each animal.
The 2016 lunar year began on February 8, 2016, and continued until January 27, 2017. January 28, 2017 began the next zodiac year, which was the Year of the Fire Rooster.
Zodiac years do not begin on January 1. This is especially important for people born in January or early February, because their zodiac sign may be determined by the previous Lunar New Year boundary.