Akobo fire, 7 April 2021 Akobo
The fire started on 7 April 2021 in Akobo, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 8,858 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 63th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 23 in Ethiopia in 2021, of 255.
- Burnt area
- 8,858ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 7 Apr 2021 – 11 Apr 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 7 Apr
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 338
- in a single hotspot: 78 MW
- Danger at start
- 48
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.1GW
- 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 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 21 Apr.
This area had burned before
84% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,833 ha in 2016, 6,044 ha in 2017, 1,771 ha in 2018, 447 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 7,463 ha that had burned before.
- 2,833 ha Akobo fire, January 2016 3,601 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,411 ha Akobo fire, January 2017 3,896 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,729 ha Akobo fire, December 2017 11,622 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,123 ha Akobo fire, December 2018 2,711 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 648 ha Akobo fire, March 2018 2,389 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 643 ha Akobo fire, January 2017 6,014 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 492 ha Akobo fire, January 2017 3,298 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Akobo where it started8,916 ha reached on 2 Apr4.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Apr | 38.8 °C | 22 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 8 Apr | 39.4 °C | 18 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 9 Apr | 39.4 °C | 22 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 10 Apr | 39.5 °C | 21 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 11 Apr | 39.1 °C | 24 % | 49 km/h | 0.4 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 12 Apr after | 35.7 °C | 32 % | 37 km/h | 0.5 mm | Very high 47 |
| 13 Apr after | 38.4 °C | 21 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 14 Apr after | 38.4 °C | 21 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 15 Apr after | 38.3 °C | 24 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 16 Apr after | 39.4 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 17 Apr after | 40.1 °C | 18 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 18 Apr after | 40.5 °C | 19 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 19 Apr after | 39.9 °C | 21 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 20 Apr after | 40.2 °C | 22 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 21 Apr after | 38.4 °C | 28 % | 49 km/h | 1.0 mm | Very high 47 |
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 · 338Every 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 7 April 2021 and 11 April 2021: 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 8,858 hectares (88.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Akobo (8,916 ha, 4.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.5 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 50 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.