Akobo fire, March 2021 Akobo, Ulang
The fire started on 28 March 2021 in Akobo, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,292 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 383th largest in Jonglei since 2016 (of 427 with a page). Number 191 in South Sudan in 2021, of 212.
- Burnt area
- 5,292ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 28 Mar 2021 – 30 Mar 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- counties
- Started on
- 28 Mar
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 142
- in a single hotspot: 72 MW
- Danger at start
- 43
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.4GW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.1 mm on 1 Apr.
This area had burned before
57% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 505 ha in 2016, 108 ha in 2017, 2,518 ha in 2018, 79 ha in 2019, 268 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,029 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Akobo where it started4,225 ha reached on 28 Mar0.5 %
-
1,103 ha reached on 28 Mar0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Mar | 38.8 °C | 13 % | 28 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 43 |
| 29 Mar | 40.3 °C | 11 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 30 Mar | 39.9 °C | 11 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 31 Mar after | 39.1 °C | 16 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 1 Apr after | 37.7 °C | 25 % | 33 km/h | 2.1 mm | High 30 |
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 · 142Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 35,904 haUlangDecember 2017 · 17 days · 12 km away
- 129,779 haUlangDecember 2016 · 40 days · 15 km away
- 58,283 haUlangJanuary 2019 · 26 days · 22 km away
- 63,860 haAkobo24 January 2022 · 30 days · 28 km away
- 25,875 haUlang27 March 2023 · 29 days · 29 km away
- 83,713 haUlang6 March 2022 · 30 days · 34 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Akobo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 March 2021 and 30 March 2021: 3 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 5,292 hectares (52.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Akobo (4,225 ha, 0.5 %); Ulang (1,103 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 40.3 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 42 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 South 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.