Akobo fire, 6 March 2019 Akobo
The fire started on 6 March 2019 in Akobo, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,279 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 263th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 92 in Ethiopia in 2019, of 220.
- Burnt area
- 3,279ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 6 Mar 2019 – 10 Mar 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 6 Mar
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 73
- in a single hotspot: 62 MW
- Danger at start
- 47
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 917MW
- 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
99% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,138 ha in 2016, 3,824 ha in 2017, 1,468 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,236 ha that had burned before.
- 1,944 ha Akobo fire, March 2017 2,375 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,637 ha Akobo fire, January 2017 9,406 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 204 ha Jore fire, March 2016 2,348 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 160 ha Akobo fire, February 2017 2,202 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 63 ha Jore fire, February 2017 5,979 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Akobo where it started3,300 ha reached on 6 Mar1.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Mar | 41.2 °C | 13 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 7 Mar | 40.3 °C | 12 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 8 Mar | 40.8 °C | 8 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 9 Mar | 40.5 °C | 10 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 10 Mar | 39.2 °C | 10 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 11 Mar after | 40.3 °C | 19 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 12 Mar after | 41.2 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 13 Mar after | 40.0 °C | 19 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 14 Mar after | 40.6 °C | 18 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 15 Mar after | 40.1 °C | 18 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 16 Mar after | 39.2 °C | 16 % | 34 km/h | 0.9 mm | Very high 49 |
| 17 Mar after | 40.7 °C | 7 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 18 Mar after | 39.6 °C | 10 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 19 Mar after | 39.1 °C | 17 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 20 Mar after | 40.1 °C | 13 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
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 · 73Every 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 Akobo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 March 2019 and 10 March 2019: 5 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 3,279 hectares (32.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Akobo (3,300 ha, 1.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 41.2 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, 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.