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Aswa fire, 15 December 2016 Kilak, Aswa

Out · last detection 30 Dec 2016, 11:24 UTC

The fire started on 15 December 2016 in Aswa, Uganda, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,451 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 13th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 1377 with a page). Number 4 in Uganda in 2016, of 269.

Burnt area
7,451ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
15days
15 Dec 2016 – 29 Dec 2016
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
15 Dec
2016
Heat detections
303
in a single hotspot: 129 MW
Danger at start
21
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
2.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

30 Dec 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Dec29 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

15161718192021222324252627282930

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
56km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 16 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. Kilak
    4,594 ha reached on 9 Dec
    1.0 %
  2. Aswa where it started
    2,907 ha reached on 8 Dec
    1.6 %

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 33.3 °C 27 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
16 Dec 32.2 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
17 Dec 33.2 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
18 Dec 34.0 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
19 Dec 35.6 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 Dec 35.7 °C 17 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 Dec 34.3 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Dec 34.8 °C 23 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
23 Dec 35.8 °C 17 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
24 Dec 36.5 °C 19 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
25 Dec 35.3 °C 22 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
26 Dec 35.9 °C 17 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
27 Dec 36.2 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Dec 35.9 °C 13 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
29 Dec 36.3 °C 13 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
30 Dec after 35.3 °C 21 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
31 Dec after 34.9 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
1 Jan after 36.6 °C 12 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
2 Jan after 36.4 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
3 Jan after 36.4 °C 15 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
4 Jan after 36.6 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Jan after 36.6 °C 10 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
6 Jan after 36.7 °C 8 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
7 Jan after 37.2 °C 9 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
8 Jan after 36.3 °C 13 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Dec 2016
After · 5 Jan 2017

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 · 303Every 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 Uganda ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Aswa fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 December 2016 and 29 December 2016: 15 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 7,451 hectares (74.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kilak (4,594 ha, 1.0 %); Aswa (2,907 ha, 1.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.5 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Uganda (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: 999 · 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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 999 · 112.

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 (Public Domain). 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.