Bakura fire, January 2019 Bakura, Tureta
The fire started on 26 January 2019 in Bakura, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,975 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 52th largest in Zamfara since 2016 (of 208 with a page). Number 20 in Nigeria in 2019, of 106.
- Burnt area
- 3,975ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 26 Jan 2019 – 31 Jan 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- local government areas
- Started on
- 26 Jan
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 119
- in a single hotspot: 47 MW
- Danger at start
- 47
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 941MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
6% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 32 ha in 2017, 202 ha in 2018.
What happened to each town
-
Bakura where it started3,780 ha reached on 26 Jan2.1 %
-
219 ha reached on 26 Jan0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Jan | 34.8 °C | 10 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 27 Jan | 33.7 °C | 9 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 28 Jan | 32.6 °C | 12 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 29 Jan | 33.5 °C | 11 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 30 Jan | 33.7 °C | 10 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 31 Jan | 34.3 °C | 9 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 1 Feb after | 34.2 °C | 12 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 2 Feb after | 35.0 °C | 13 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 3 Feb after | 35.7 °C | 11 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 4 Feb after | 36.2 °C | 11 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 5 Feb after | 34.8 °C | 12 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 6 Feb after | 30.9 °C | 13 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 7 Feb after | 30.9 °C | 11 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 8 Feb after | 30.9 °C | 14 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 9 Feb after | 31.1 °C | 12 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 10 Feb after | 30.7 °C | 14 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
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 · 119Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 7,670 haBakuraDecember 2021 · 6 days · 2 km away
- 4,464 haBakuraDecember 2025 · 3 days · 6 km away
- 7,575 haBakuraNovember 2019 · 12 days · 14 km away
- 4,918 haTureta7 December 2025 · 4 days · 19 km away
- 5,036 haTureta10 December 2024 · 9 days · 21 km away
- 5,724 haTureta22 November 2025 · 6 days · 28 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Bakura fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 26 January 2019 and 31 January 2019: 6 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 3,975 hectares (39.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bakura (3,780 ha, 2.1 %); Tureta (219 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.8 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 56, 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.