Abobo fire, 28 January 2022 Abobo
The fire started on 28 January 2022 in Abobo, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,716 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 373th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 63 in Ethiopia in 2022, of 135.
- Burnt area
- 2,716ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 28 Jan 2022 – 2 Feb 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 28 Jan
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 69
- in a single hotspot: 75 MW
- Danger at start
- 38
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 194MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
92% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,284 ha in 2016, 421 ha in 2017, 1,349 ha in 2018, 564 ha in 2020, 1,874 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,496 ha that had burned before.
- 1,874 ha Abobo fire, January 2021 3,158 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,284 ha Abobo fire, December 2016 2,969 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 700 ha Abobo fire, January 2018 2,580 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 564 ha Abobo fire, February 2020 3,063 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 400 ha Abobo fire, December 2017 2,928 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Abobo where it started2,734 ha reached on 28 Jan0.9 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan | 36.5 °C | 23 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 29 Jan | 37.0 °C | 24 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 30 Jan | 36.8 °C | 23 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 31 Jan | 37.6 °C | 22 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 1 Feb | 37.3 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 2 Feb | 38.0 °C | 24 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 3 Feb after | 37.8 °C | 21 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 4 Feb after | 38.7 °C | 18 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 5 Feb after | 38.2 °C | 20 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 6 Feb after | 36.6 °C | 18 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 7 Feb after | 36.7 °C | 17 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 8 Feb after | 37.7 °C | 17 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 9 Feb after | 38.9 °C | 16 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 10 Feb after | 37.4 °C | 25 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 11 Feb after | 38.5 °C | 18 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 12 Feb after | 38.0 °C | 20 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
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 · 69Every 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 28 January 2022 and 2 February 2022: 6 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 2,716 hectares (27.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Abobo (2,734 ha, 0.9 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.0 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 27 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, class Very high.
- 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.