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Al Radoum fire, 15 December 2016 Al Radoum

Out · last detection 24 Dec 2016, 11:38 UTC

The fire started on 15 December 2016 in Al Radoum, Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,900 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 76th largest in South Darfur since 2016 (of 322 with a page). Number 48 in Sudan in 2016, of 169.

Burnt area
3,900ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
10days
15 Dec 2016 – 24 Dec 2016
Municipalities hit
1
localities
Started on
15 Dec
2016
Heat detections
135
in a single hotspot: 38 MW
Danger at start
45
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
590MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Dec 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Dec24 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

15161718192021222324

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
49km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 52 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.

What happened to each town

  1. Al Radoum where it started
    3,621 ha reached on 12 Dec
    0.1 %

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)
15 Dec 30.2 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
16 Dec 30.9 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
17 Dec 30.8 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
18 Dec 30.4 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
19 Dec 31.0 °C 17 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
20 Dec 31.4 °C 16 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
21 Dec 31.6 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Dec 32.4 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
23 Dec 33.7 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
24 Dec 33.9 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
25 Dec after 32.2 °C 17 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
26 Dec after 31.8 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
27 Dec after 31.1 °C 21 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
28 Dec after 30.9 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Dec after 32.5 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
30 Dec after 32.4 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
31 Dec after 31.9 °C 15 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
1 Jan after 32.5 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
2 Jan after 31.8 °C 16 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
3 Jan after 31.8 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Dec 2016
After · 31 Dec 2016

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 · 135Every 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 Radoum fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 December 2016 and 24 December 2016: 10 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 3,900 hectares (39.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Al Radoum (3,621 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.9 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 49 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 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.

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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.