Anka fire, December 2021 Anka
The fire started on 22 December 2021 in Anka, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,824 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 103th largest in Zamfara since 2016 (of 208 with a page). Number 111 in Nigeria in 2021, of 184.
The power measured by the satellite is low (20.3 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 2,824ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 22 Dec 2021 – 25 Dec 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- local government areas
- Started on
- 22 Dec
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 59
- in a single hotspot: 20 MW
- Danger at start
- 50
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 251MW
- 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 59 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
89% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 30 ha in 2016, 1,887 ha in 2017, 1,884 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,514 ha that had burned before.
- 1,834 ha Anka fire, March 2019 3,258 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,388 ha Anka fire, January 2017 4,556 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 348 ha Anka fire, November 2017 2,010 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 151 ha Anka fire, November 2017 3,875 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Anka where it started2,841 ha reached on 22 Dec1.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Dec | 31.6 °C | 20 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 23 Dec | 31.6 °C | 16 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 24 Dec | 32.8 °C | 16 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 25 Dec | 32.8 °C | 17 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 26 Dec after | 33.5 °C | 18 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 27 Dec after | 31.8 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 28 Dec after | 30.5 °C | 16 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 29 Dec after | 31.0 °C | 16 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 30 Dec after | 30.7 °C | 14 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 31 Dec after | 32.1 °C | 14 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 1 Jan after | 31.5 °C | 17 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 2 Jan after | 29.8 °C | 19 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 3 Jan after | 26.2 °C | 20 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 4 Jan after | 27.7 °C | 25 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
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.
Detections table · 59Every 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 Anka fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 December 2021 and 25 December 2021: 4 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 2,824 hectares (28.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Anka (2,841 ha, 1.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, 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.
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
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 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.