Abobo fire, March 2017 Abobo, Jore, Gambella Wild Life Reserve
The fire started on 20 March 2017 in Abobo, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,607 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 220th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 98 in Ethiopia in 2017, of 266.
The power measured by the satellite is low (27.9 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
- 3,607ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 20 Mar 2017 – 30 Mar 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- districts
- Started on
- 20 Mar
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 97
- in a single hotspot: 28 MW
- Danger at start
- 50
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 646MW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.6 mm on 7 Apr.
This area had burned before
21% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 762 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Abobo where it started2,650 ha reached on 19 Mar0.8 %
-
981 ha reached on 28 Mar0.3 %
-
0 ha reached on 2 Apr0.0 %
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 Mar | 39.8 °C | 16 % | 28 km/h | 1.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 21 Mar | 39.4 °C | 24 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 22 Mar | 39.3 °C | 22 % | 25 km/h | 0.4 mm | Very high 41 |
| 23 Mar | 39.9 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 24 Mar | 41.7 °C | 18 % | 31 km/h | 1.3 mm | Very high 39 |
| 25 Mar | 37.9 °C | 27 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 26 Mar | 37.5 °C | 30 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 27 Mar | 40.4 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 28 Mar | 38.4 °C | 25 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 29 Mar | 40.2 °C | 22 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 40 |
| 30 Mar | 40.7 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 31 Mar after | 40.3 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 1 Apr after | 41.3 °C | 17 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 2 Apr after | 41.6 °C | 16 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 3 Apr after | 40.8 °C | 21 % | 38 km/h | 0.2 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 4 Apr after | 40.7 °C | 21 % | 25 km/h | 0.5 mm | Very high 46 |
| 5 Apr after | 39.6 °C | 24 % | 37 km/h | 0.8 mm | Very high 49 |
| 6 Apr after | 40.2 °C | 25 % | 43 km/h | 0.3 mm | Very high 48 |
| 7 Apr after | 40.2 °C | 25 % | 38 km/h | 1.6 mm | Very high 40 |
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.
Detections table · 97Every 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 Abobo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 March 2017 and 30 March 2017: 11 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 3,607 hectares (36.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Abobo (2,650 ha, 0.8 %); Jore (981 ha, 0.3 %); Gambella Wild Life Reserve (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 41.7 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ethiopia (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 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.