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SD · Sudan · –

Al Dibab fire, 14 November 2025 Al Dibab

Out · last detection 19 Dec 2025, 11:05 UTC

The fire started on 14 November 2025 in Al Dibab, Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 36 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,812 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 9th largest in West Kordofan since 2016 (of 188 with a page). Number 36 in Sudan in 2025, of 390.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Al Dibab · 2026Abyei PCA area · 2025Abyei PCA area · 2021Abyei PCA area · 2026

Burnt area
7,812ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
36days
14 Nov 2025 – 19 Dec 2025
Municipalities hit
1
localities
Started on
14 Nov
2025
Heat detections
309
in a single hotspot: 82 MW
Danger at start
42
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
97MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Nov19 Dec
19 Dec 2025

How it evolved, day by day

14 Nov 2025 · 2 MW · 1 15 Nov 2025 · 7 MW · 2 16 Nov 2025 · 12 MW · 3 17 Nov 2025 · 7 MW · 3 20 Nov 2025 · 157 MW · 16 21 Nov 2025 · 401 MW · 21 22 Nov 2025 · 286 MW · 18 23 Nov 2025 · 12 MW · 3 24 Nov 2025 · 32 MW · 4 25 Nov 2025 · 175 MW · 20 26 Nov 2025 · 31 MW · 5 28 Nov 2025 · 71 MW · 7 29 Nov 2025 · 168 MW · 19 30 Nov 2025 · 56 MW · 16 2 Dec 2025 · 258 MW · 23 4 Dec 2025 · 11 MW · 7 5 Dec 2025 · 588 MW · 54 6 Dec 2025 · 52 MW · 7 7 Dec 2025 · 5 MW · 2 8 Dec 2025 · 58 MW · 12 9 Dec 2025 · 143 MW · 24 10 Dec 2025 · 14 MW · 1 11 Dec 2025 · 208 MW · 8 12 Dec 2025 · 56 MW · 5 13 Dec 2025 · 50 MW · 11 14 Dec 2025 · 79 MW · 10 15 Dec 2025 · 10 MW · 1 16 Dec 2025 · 2 MW · 1 17 Dec 2025 · 38 MW · 1 18 Dec 2025 · 6 MW · 3 19 Dec 2025 · 1 MW · 1
14 Nov 23 Nov 5 Dec 10 Dec 17 Dec

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

37°high
38km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 24 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 4.9% of the area of London (78 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Al Dibab where it started
    7,852 ha reached on 14 Nov
    0.9 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
14 Nov 36.3 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
15 Nov 33.6 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
16 Nov 33.1 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Nov 34.6 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
18 Nov 36.1 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
19 Nov 36.6 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
20 Nov 36.4 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
21 Nov 35.8 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
22 Nov 36.3 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
23 Nov 36.1 °C 21 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
24 Nov 37.1 °C 18 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
25 Nov 36.8 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
26 Nov 36.5 °C 14 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Nov 36.3 °C 14 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
28 Nov 36.3 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
29 Nov 36.9 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
30 Nov 37.1 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
1 Dec 36.9 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
2 Dec 36.9 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
3 Dec 36.3 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Dec 37.0 °C 15 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Dec 37.2 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
6 Dec 37.3 °C 16 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
7 Dec 36.1 °C 19 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
8 Dec 37.3 °C 19 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
9 Dec 36.1 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
10 Dec 34.8 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
11 Dec 34.7 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
12 Dec 35.5 °C 14 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
13 Dec 35.4 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
14 Dec 35.1 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
15 Dec 33.7 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
16 Dec 32.3 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
17 Dec 32.9 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
18 Dec 32.9 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
19 Dec 34.2 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
20 Dec after 34.0 °C 15 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
21 Dec after 34.4 °C 11 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
22 Dec after 34.8 °C 12 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
23 Dec after 35.7 °C 14 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
24 Dec after 36.1 °C 16 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
25 Dec after 37.2 °C 14 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
26 Dec after 36.7 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
27 Dec after 36.6 °C 14 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
28 Dec after 35.7 °C 9 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
29 Dec after 35.9 °C 7 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 7 Nov 2025
After · 26 Dec 2025

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 · Copernicus

On 10 December 2025 the air beside the fire reached 92 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 61: 4.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak92 µg/m³
Days over the guideline29 days
PM10233 µg/m³
Optical depth0.67
19 Nov25 Nov1 Dec7 Dec13 Dec
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 309Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Sudan

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Al Dibab fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 14 November 2025 to 19 December 2025 (36 days). The perimeter dates it from 21 November 2025 to 14 December 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 7,812 hectares (78.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Al Dibab (7,852 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.3 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 59, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of 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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 14 December 2025 → 19 December 2025.
  2. Start date: 21 November 2025 → 14 November 2025.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 21 November 2025 to 14 December 2025. 309 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.