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Agago fire, 19 December 2017 Agago, Labwor

Out · last detection 22 Dec 2017, 11:30 UTC

The fire started on 19 December 2017 in Agago, Uganda, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,995 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 123th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 1377 with a page). Number 27 in Uganda in 2017, of 244.

The power measured by the satellite is low (23.6 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
2,995ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
19 Dec 2017 – 22 Dec 2017
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
19 Dec
2017
Heat detections
70
in a single hotspot: 24 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Energy released
431MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 Dec 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Dec22 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

19202122

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

32°high
55km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone 18 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

30% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 911 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Agago where it started
    2,599 ha reached on 19 Dec
    0.6 %
  2. Labwor
    416 ha reached on 19 Dec
    0.2 %

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)
19 Dec 31.4 °C 29 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
20 Dec 31.7 °C 22 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
21 Dec 31.8 °C 22 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
22 Dec 31.4 °C 21 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
23 Dec after 30.8 °C 25 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Dec after 31.6 °C 22 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Dec after 32.9 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
26 Dec after 32.8 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
27 Dec after 31.7 °C 23 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
28 Dec after 32.6 °C 22 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Dec after 31.7 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Dec after 32.3 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
31 Dec after 31.7 °C 24 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
1 Jan after 30.3 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 12 Dec 2017
After · 29 Dec 2017

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 · 70Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Uganda ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Agago fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 December 2017 and 22 December 2017: 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 2,995 hectares (30.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Agago (2,599 ha, 0.6 %); Labwor (416 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.8 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Uganda (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.

Emergency number: 999 · 112

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 999 · 112.

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 (Public Domain). 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.