Akobo fire, May 2024 Akobo
The fire started on 11 May 2024 in Akobo, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,696 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 380th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 43 in Ethiopia in 2024, of 87.
- Burnt area
- 2,696ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 11 May 2024 – 12 May 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 11 May
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 69
- in a single hotspot: 107 MW
- Danger at start
- 55
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.1GW
- 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 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.0 mm on 15 May.
This area had burned before
98% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 323 ha in 2016, 1,370 ha in 2017, 1,085 ha in 2018, 80 ha in 2019, 1,515 ha in 2021, 2,194 ha in 2022, 981 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,645 ha that had burned before.
- 2,153 ha Wantawo fire, March 2022 48,009 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,403 ha Akobo fire, May 2021 7,199 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 984 ha Akobo fire, January 2017 9,406 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 110 ha Akobo fire, February 2021 2,845 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 78 ha Akobo fire, February 2019 3,159 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 41 ha Akobo fire, March 2022 2,676 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2 ha Akobo fire, April 2021 4,964 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Akobo where it started2,714 ha reached on 11 May1.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 May | 40.8 °C | 22 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 12 May | 41.5 °C | 23 % | 45 km/h | 1.3 mm | Very high 49 |
| 13 May after | 40.4 °C | 23 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 14 May after | 37.4 °C | 29 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 15 May after | 35.5 °C | 34 % | 37 km/h | 2.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 15 May 2024 the air beside the fire reached 36 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 27: 1.8 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 69Every 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 11 May 2024 and 12 May 2024: 2 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 2,696 hectares (27.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Akobo (2,714 ha, 1.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 41.5 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, 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.