Akobo fire, August 2026 Akobo
The fire started on 28 August 2026 in Akobo, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,516 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 428th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 120 in Ethiopia in 2026, of 190.
- Burnt area
- 2,516ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 28 Aug 2026 – 30 Aug 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 28 Aug
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 54
- in a single hotspot: 88 MW
- Danger at start
- 50
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 796MW
- 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 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 3 Sept.
This area had burned before
86% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,410 ha in 2017, 1,053 ha in 2018, 381 ha in 2019, 41 ha in 2021, 441 ha in 2022, 771 ha in 2023, 287 ha in 2024, 57 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,162 ha that had burned before.
- 1,410 ha Akobo fire, January 2017 3,298 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 350 ha Akobo fire, March 2018 2,389 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 85 ha Ulang fire, February 2022 5,317 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 68 ha Akobo fire, December 2018 2,711 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 41 ha Akobo fire, April 2021 8,858 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Akobo where it started2,444 ha reached on 28 Aug1.2 %
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 Aug | 40.0 °C | 14 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 29 Aug | 39.8 °C | 15 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 30 Aug | 35.7 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 31 Aug after | 34.0 °C | 29 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 1 Sept after | 36.5 °C | 25 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 2 Sept after | 39.6 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 45 |
| 3 Sept after | 36.9 °C | 29 % | 40 km/h | 1.1 mm | High 34 |
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 31 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 55 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 28: 1.9 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 · 54Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 48,009 haWantawo2 March 2022 · 21 days · 22 km away
- 58,283 haUlangJanuary 2019 · 26 days · 27 km away
- 129,779 haUlangDecember 2016 · 40 days · 28 km away
- 35,904 haUlangDecember 2017 · 17 days · 29 km away
- 83,713 haUlang6 March 2022 · 30 days · 31 km away
- 25,875 haUlang27 March 2023 · 29 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Akobo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 August 2026 and 30 August 2026: 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 2,516 hectares (25.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Akobo (2,444 ha, 1.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 40.0 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 47 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.