Burned area
satellite only6,767ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- 4 Feb 2017 – 26 Feb 2017
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
NG · Nigeria · –
Anambra West fire, February 2017 Anambra West, Ibaji, Anambra East
Out · last detection 26 Feb 2017, 13:18 UTC
The fire started on 4 February 2017 in Anambra West, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 23 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,767 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
Number 13 in Nigeria in 2017, of 143.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-27matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only23days
4 Feb 2017 to 26 Feb 2017: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 26 Feb 2017, 13:18 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only4 Feb 2017
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 4 Feb 2017
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only357
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 52 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 4 Feb 2017 – 26 Feb 2017
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only995MW
Total radiative power on 14 February 2017; hotspots that day: 76.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 14 Feb 2017
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model43.2FWI · very high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 11.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 4 Feb 2017, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model40.7°C · 3% RH
High of 40.7 °C and minimum humidity of 3% on 14 February 2017; gusts of 42 km/h on 24 February 2017.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 4 Feb 2017 – 26 Feb 2017
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
Living inside
model≈ 1,100people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 1.8 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2015).
- Source
- GHSL R2023A · JRC
- Date
- calculated on 24 October 2026
+− cross-check
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.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
logLast day with fire: 19 February 2017 → 26 February 2017.
-
logStart date: 11 February 2017 → 4 February 2017.
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
What was saved on 27 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 6,767 ha
- Dates
- 4 Feb 2017 – 26 Feb 2017
- Name
- Anambra West
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/anambra-west-2017-02?v=2026-10-27A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire anambra-west-2017-02.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-02-04 | 2 | 5 | 38.7 | 26.5 | 22 | 16 | 33.8 | 0 | 43.2 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-02-05 | 7 | 65 | 38.2 | 26.3 | 25 | 14.3 | 33.8 | 0 | 41.9 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-02-06 | 3 | 8 | 37.8 | 27.1 | 24 | 12 | 24.8 | 0 | 40.1 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-02-07 | 5 | 92 | 38.5 | 26 | 22 | 17.6 | 34.9 | 0.1 | 46.1 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-02-08 | 3 | 10 | 37.7 | 26.6 | 23 | 15.8 | 34.2 | 0 | 44.6 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-02-09 | 0 | 0 | 38.2 | 25.9 | 23 | 16.6 | 33.8 | 0 | 45.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-02-10 | 8 | 60 | 38.8 | 26.5 | 25 | 17.2 | 34.6 | 0 | 46.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-02-11 | 11 | 91 | 40.2 | 26.3 | 18 | 18.1 | 37.1 | 0 | 51.3 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-12 | 3 | 47 | 38.2 | 27 | 27 | 13 | 31.3 | 0 | 43.7 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-02-13 | 7 | 121 | 38.8 | 26.6 | 16 | 13.8 | 26.6 | 0 | 47.4 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-02-14 | 76 | 995 | 40.7 | 25.8 | 3 | 10.7 | 23.8 | 0 | 57.1 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-15 | 47 | 716 | 39 | 25.1 | 13 | 11.6 | 25.6 | 0 | 55.1 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-16 | 36 | 269 | 38.2 | 25.6 | 8 | 12 | 25.2 | 0 | 55.9 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-17 | 86 | 821 | 38.3 | 24.4 | 4 | 12.4 | 30.6 | 0 | 57.6 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-18 | 26 | 176 | 37.1 | 22.4 | 8 | 9 | 24.8 | 0 | 53.6 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-19 | 12 | 72 | 38.3 | 24.1 | 5 | 10 | 24.8 | 0 | 55.2 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-20 | 0 | 0 | 38.1 | 23.9 | 11 | 9.9 | 24.5 | 0 | 54.1 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-21 | 9 | 44 | 39.4 | 23.8 | 18 | 14.8 | 29.5 | 0 | 55.4 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-22 | 10 | 56 | 39.3 | 25.2 | 18 | 13.6 | 28.8 | 0 | 53.3 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-23 | 2 | 16 | 38.7 | 26.3 | 23 | 16 | 34.6 | 0 | 51.8 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-24 | 0 | 0 | 40.6 | 26.6 | 21 | 19.8 | 42.5 | 0 | 56.8 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-25 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 | 27.5 | 23 | 17.3 | 38.5 | 0 | 53.7 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-02-26 | 4 | 22 | 37.5 | 26.6 | 31 | 19 | 38.2 | 0.1 | 48.2 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-02-27 | 0 | 0 | 38.7 | 26.9 | 30 | 18.1 | 36 | 0 | 47.4 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2017-02-28 | 0 | 0 | 38.6 | 26.7 | 30 | 20.2 | 41 | 0 | 50 | extremo | 0 |
| 2017-03-01 | 0 | 0 | 39.2 | 26 | 28 | 17.8 | 39.6 | 0 | 47.6 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2017-03-02 | 0 | 0 | 37.4 | 26.5 | 30 | 17.3 | 36 | 0 | 46.5 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2017-03-03 | 0 | 0 | 39.3 | 27 | 34 | 17.4 | 37.4 | 0 | 45.1 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2017-03-04 | 0 | 0 | 38.7 | 26.7 | 26 | 20.5 | 42.1 | 0.1 | 48.7 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2017-03-05 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 26.5 | 29 | 20.6 | 44.3 | 0 | 49 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2017-03-06 | 0 | 0 | 36.6 | 26.9 | 43 | 18.2 | 43.2 | 0.6 | 36.3 | alto | 0 |
| 2017-03-07 | 0 | 0 | 39.7 | 26.5 | 26 | 17.9 | 39.2 | 0.2 | 45.1 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2017-03-08 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 25.2 | 24 | 15.8 | 33.5 | 0 | 45.1 | muy_alto | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: GWIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 6,767ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 23days
- 4 Feb 2017 – 26 Feb 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- local government areas
- Started on
- 4 Feb
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 357
- in a single hotspot: 52 MW
- Danger at start
- 43
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 194MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
4 Feb26 Feb
26 Feb 2017
How it evolved, day by day
4 Feb
8 Feb
14 Feb
17 Feb
22 Feb
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
41°high
42km/h · peak gust
3%lowest humidity
It had gone 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
4% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 270 ha in 2016.
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Anambra West where it started6,599 ha reached on 4 Feb11 %
-
213 ha reached on 7 Feb0.2 %
-
0 ha reached on 11 Feb0.0 %
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 2015Built-up area1.8 ha
Residents≈ 1,100
Inside the perimeter there were about 1.8 hectares of built-up land and about 1,100 residents (GHSL 2015, 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.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Feb | 38.7 °C | 22 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 5 Feb | 38.2 °C | 25 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 6 Feb | 37.8 °C | 24 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 7 Feb | 38.5 °C | 22 % | 35 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 46 |
| 8 Feb | 37.7 °C | 23 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 9 Feb | 38.2 °C | 23 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 10 Feb | 38.8 °C | 25 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 11 Feb | 40.2 °C | 18 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 12 Feb | 38.2 °C | 27 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 13 Feb | 38.8 °C | 16 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 14 Feb | 40.7 °C | 3 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 15 Feb | 39.0 °C | 13 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 16 Feb | 38.2 °C | 8 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 17 Feb | 38.3 °C | 4 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 18 Feb | 37.1 °C | 8 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 19 Feb | 38.3 °C | 5 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 20 Feb | 38.1 °C | 11 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 21 Feb | 39.4 °C | 18 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 22 Feb | 39.3 °C | 18 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 23 Feb | 38.7 °C | 23 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 24 Feb | 40.6 °C | 21 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 25 Feb | 39.6 °C | 23 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 26 Feb | 37.5 °C | 31 % | 38 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 48 |
| 27 Feb after | 38.7 °C | 30 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 28 Feb after | 38.6 °C | 30 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 1 Mar after | 39.2 °C | 28 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 2 Mar after | 37.4 °C | 30 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 3 Mar after | 39.3 °C | 34 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 4 Mar after | 38.7 °C | 26 % | 42 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 49 |
| 5 Mar after | 40.0 °C | 29 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 6 Mar after | 36.6 °C | 43 % | 43 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 36 |
| 7 Mar after | 39.7 °C | 26 % | 39 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 45 |
| 8 Mar after | 40.0 °C | 24 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 43.2, a minimum humidity of 22% and 11 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 31.
FWI at the start
43.2
Minimum humidity
22 %
Days without rain
11
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Anambra West fire, February 2017
6,767 ha
23 days
FWI 43.2
Min. humidity 22 %
Agatu fire, February 2023
2,138 ha
21 days
FWI 41.9
Min. humidity 22 %
181 km away, in 2023
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Uhunmwonde fire, January 2016
4,033 ha
15 days
FWI 43.5
Min. humidity 18 %
106 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.8 mm on 16 Feb.
Anambra West fire, January 2022
6,581 ha
19 days
FWI 37.9
Min. humidity 21 %
2 km away, in 2022
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Ayamelum fire, January 2022
2,189 ha
13 days
FWI 38.7
Min. humidity 20 %
26 km away, in 2022
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Ogoja fire, January 2022
2,510 ha
15 days
FWI 42.9
Min. humidity 18 %
201 km away, in 2022
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
What happened to them
- 16 days
- median duration
- 3,009 ha
- median area
- 100 %
- went past 1,000 ha
- 1.8 mm
- rain at the end (median; 10 of 31 had it)
It was 2.2 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 23 days, against 16 days.
Only 2 of its 31 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 21 of 31, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.8 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
—first rain
—no rain in ten days
42km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 26 Feb, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 10 of 31, with a median of 1.8 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
- Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
- Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
- Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
- Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
- They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 28 Jan 2017
After · 5 Mar 2017
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 · 357Every 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 time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Anambra West fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 4 February 2017 to 26 February 2017 (23 days). The perimeter dates it from 11 February 2017 to 19 February 2017.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,767 hectares (67.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Anambra West (6,599 ha, 11 %); Ibaji (213 ha, 0.2 %); Anambra East (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 40.7 °C, humidity dropped to 3 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Nigeria (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
- How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
- Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 31. Their median duration was 16 days and their median area 3,009 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 2 of its 31 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 21 of 31, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.8 mm.
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.
Emergency number: 112 · Emergency number and official warnings
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.
- Last day with fire: 19 February 2017 → 26 February 2017.
- Start date: 11 February 2017 → 4 February 2017.
RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version
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
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 11 February 2017 to 19 February 2017. 357 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 2015, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.