Abyei PCA area fire, 17 January 2024 Abyei PCA area
The fire started on 17 January 2024 in Abyei PCA area, Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,297 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 30th largest in Abyei PCA since 2016 (of 89 with a page). Number 27 in Sudan in 2024, of 89.
- Burnt area
- 3,297ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 17 Jan 2024 – 20 Jan 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- localities
- Started on
- 17 Jan
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 77
- in a single hotspot: 94 MW
- Danger at start
- 64
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 899MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
52% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,167 ha in 2016, 980 ha in 2017, 334 ha in 2020, 206 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,723 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Abyei PCA area where it started3,315 ha reached on 17 Jan0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Jan | 34.6 °C | 6 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 18 Jan | 34.3 °C | 7 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 19 Jan | 34.2 °C | 6 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 20 Jan | 34.4 °C | 6 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 21 Jan after | 35.3 °C | 7 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 22 Jan after | 37.2 °C | 7 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 23 Jan after | 38.8 °C | 8 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 24 Jan after | 38.6 °C | 9 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 25 Jan after | 37.3 °C | 10 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 26 Jan after | 33.1 °C | 8 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 71 |
| 27 Jan after | 32.0 °C | 9 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 28 Jan after | 33.1 °C | 8 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 29 Jan after | 35.3 °C | 8 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 30 Jan after | 35.8 °C | 8 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
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 · 77Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 30,332 haAbyei PCA area29 November 2017 · 23 days · 7 km away
- 10,029 haAbyei PCA area7 November 2017 · 9 days · 7 km away
- 7,406 haAbyei PCA area25 November 2021 · 13 days · 18 km away
- 6,961 haAbyei PCA area2 December 2017 · 6 days · 26 km away
- 11,585 haAbyei PCA area10 December 2021 · 5 days · 30 km away
- 5,476 haAbyei PCA area21 November 2017 · 3 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Abyei PCA area fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 January 2024 and 20 January 2024: 4 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 3,297 hectares (33.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Abyei PCA area (3,315 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 64, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Sudan (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 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.