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IQ · Iraq · –

Badra fire, January 2017 Badra

Out · last measured on 10 Apr 2017

The fire started on 2 January 2017 in Badra, Iraq, and satellites saw it burning for 99 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,080 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Number 12 in Iraq in 2017, of 12.

Compare with…

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
1,080ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
99days
2 Jan 2017 – 10 Apr 2017
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
2 Jan
2017
Danger at start
3
Very low · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

31°high
90km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.1 mm on 15 Apr.

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 0.7% of the area of London (11 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. Badra where it started
    1,082 ha
    0.3 %

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 2015
Built-up area0.52 ha
Residents≈ 60

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.52 hectares of built-up land and about 60 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)
2 Jan 15.5 °C 74 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
3 Jan 16.2 °C 39 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
4 Jan 17.1 °C 38 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
5 Jan 15.7 °C 43 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
6 Jan 17.0 °C 43 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
7 Jan 18.2 °C 40 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
8 Jan 20.9 °C 32 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
9 Jan 21.3 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
10 Jan 18.9 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
11 Jan 19.4 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
12 Jan 18.2 °C 29 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
13 Jan 17.3 °C 26 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
14 Jan 15.8 °C 44 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
15 Jan 14.2 °C 57 % 23 km/h 0.1 mm Low 8
16 Jan 16.9 °C 50 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
17 Jan 16.5 °C 51 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
18 Jan 17.6 °C 50 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
19 Jan 18.0 °C 47 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
20 Jan 18.4 °C 45 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
21 Jan 17.8 °C 51 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
22 Jan 14.4 °C 62 % 21 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 3
23 Jan 16.0 °C 51 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
24 Jan 18.4 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
25 Jan 17.8 °C 38 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
26 Jan 18.4 °C 29 % 72 km/h 1.4 mm High 24
27 Jan 16.7 °C 52 % 45 km/h 7.4 mm Very low 2
28 Jan 13.8 °C 47 % 33 km/h 2.5 mm Very low 1
29 Jan 11.7 °C 51 % 34 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 2
30 Jan 12.7 °C 44 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
31 Jan 15.2 °C 37 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
1 Feb 13.4 °C 51 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
2 Feb 5.1 °C 51 % 43 km/h 0.4 mm Low 10
3 Feb 11.8 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
4 Feb 13.2 °C 37 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
5 Feb 14.7 °C 36 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
6 Feb 16.7 °C 36 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
7 Feb 18.3 °C 31 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
8 Feb 21.1 °C 29 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
9 Feb 19.1 °C 32 % 64 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 20
10 Feb 20.5 °C 38 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
11 Feb 19.7 °C 38 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
12 Feb 22.0 °C 26 % 36 km/h 2.7 mm Low 6
13 Feb 17.2 °C 59 % 37 km/h 14.3 mm Very low 0
14 Feb 18.7 °C 50 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
15 Feb 19.1 °C 48 % 38 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 3
16 Feb 15.5 °C 39 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
17 Feb 10.7 °C 58 % 44 km/h 0.8 mm Low 5
18 Feb 11.9 °C 41 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
19 Feb 14.0 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
20 Feb 16.5 °C 37 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
21 Feb 17.8 °C 31 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
22 Feb 18.5 °C 26 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
23 Feb 18.8 °C 27 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
24 Feb 21.8 °C 21 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 Feb 23.6 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
26 Feb 24.4 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
27 Feb 25.3 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
28 Feb 26.0 °C 18 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
1 Mar 25.1 °C 12 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
2 Mar 21.9 °C 29 % 75 km/h 0.7 mm Very high 39
3 Mar 23.0 °C 44 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
4 Mar 19.6 °C 53 % 32 km/h 3.3 mm Very low 3
5 Mar 20.8 °C 41 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
6 Mar 22.9 °C 33 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
7 Mar 25.2 °C 25 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
8 Mar 25.7 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
9 Mar 26.8 °C 14 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
10 Mar 29.3 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
11 Mar 24.6 °C 20 % 90 km/h 0.4 mm Very extreme 75
12 Mar 28.4 °C 27 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Mar 27.9 °C 29 % 72 km/h 2.3 mm High 31
14 Mar 23.8 °C 33 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
15 Mar 26.1 °C 22 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
16 Mar 22.6 °C 39 % 39 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 18
17 Mar 23.3 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
18 Mar 28.7 °C 16 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
19 Mar 24.3 °C 23 % 63 km/h 59.3 mm Low 6
20 Mar 20.8 °C 48 % 39 km/h 3.9 mm Very low 2
21 Mar 22.3 °C 44 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
22 Mar 23.7 °C 42 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
23 Mar 22.6 °C 49 % 60 km/h 7.1 mm Very low 4
24 Mar 20.2 °C 71 % 53 km/h 11.4 mm Very low 0
25 Mar 21.5 °C 51 % 19 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 1
26 Mar 24.2 °C 37 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
27 Mar 25.5 °C 28 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
28 Mar 20.4 °C 41 % 45 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 14
29 Mar 26.8 °C 29 % 33 km/h 3.5 mm Very low 4
30 Mar 27.5 °C 36 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
31 Mar 24.2 °C 38 % 28 km/h 1.8 mm Very low 4
1 Apr 25.9 °C 56 % 31 km/h 0.7 mm Low 6
2 Apr 22.1 °C 53 % 37 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 3
3 Apr 23.6 °C 43 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
4 Apr 22.1 °C 44 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
5 Apr 26.3 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
6 Apr 29.5 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
7 Apr 31.2 °C 19 % 70 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
8 Apr 30.0 °C 15 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
9 Apr 29.1 °C 20 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
10 Apr 26.8 °C 32 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
11 Apr after 31.6 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
12 Apr after 33.0 °C 30 % 51 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
13 Apr after 37.8 °C 19 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
14 Apr after 32.8 °C 17 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
15 Apr after 25.0 °C 54 % 59 km/h 3.1 mm Very low 5

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 26 Dec 2016
After · 17 Apr 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.

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Badra fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 January 2017 and 10 April 2017: 99 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 1,080 hectares (10.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Badra (1,082 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.2 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 90 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 75, class Very extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Iraq (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 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

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
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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. No 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.

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.