How long did the Baliet fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 December 2023 to 6 February 2024 (49 days). The perimeter dates it from 26 December 2023 to 30 January 2024.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 30,810 hectares (308.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Baliet (30,840 ha, 2.6 %); Longochuk (184 ha, 0.0 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 40.0 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 73, class Very extreme.

Where does this data come from?

From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of South Sudan (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

SS · South Sudan · 2023-12-20 → 2024-02-06

Baliet fire, 20 December 2023 Baliet, Longochuk

Out · last detection 6 Feb 2024, 23:23 UTC

The fire started on 20 December 2023 in Baliet, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 49 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 30,810 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

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.

It is the 18th largest in Upper Nile since 2016 (of 288 with a page). Number 2 in South Sudan in 2023, of 106.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Baliet · 2024 Baliet · 2025 Baliet · 2024 Baliet · 2026

Burnt area: 30,810ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 49days; 20 Dec 2023 – 6 Feb 2024
Municipalities hit: 2; counties
Started on: 20 Dec; 2023
Heat detections: 1,917; in a single hotspot: 101 MW
Danger at start: 59; Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power: 319MW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Dec6 Feb

Play back 6 Feb 2024

How it evolved, day by day

20 Dec 27 Dec 3 Jan 10 Jan 17 Jan 24 Jan 31 Jan

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

The weather it burned in

40°high

49km/h · peak gust

8%lowest humidity

It had gone 39 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

6% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 281 ha in 2016, 941 ha in 2017, 422 ha in 2018, 283 ha in 2023.

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 19% of the area of London (308 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

Baliet where it started

30,840 ha reached on 20 Dec

2.6 %
Longochuk

184 ha reached on 28 Dec

0.0 %

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 2025

Built-up area< 0.1 ha

Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)
20 Dec	38.8 °C	14 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
21 Dec	39.5 °C	12 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
22 Dec	40.0 °C	10 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 65
23 Dec	38.5 °C	11 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
24 Dec	37.6 °C	10 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 65
25 Dec	38.1 °C	13 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
26 Dec	37.5 °C	18 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 61
27 Dec	37.7 °C	18 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
28 Dec	36.8 °C	16 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
29 Dec	37.0 °C	12 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
30 Dec	37.0 °C	13 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
31 Dec	36.9 °C	12 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 61
1 Jan	37.2 °C	14 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
2 Jan	37.8 °C	13 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 63
3 Jan	37.0 °C	11 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62
4 Jan	37.5 °C	11 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
5 Jan	36.1 °C	11 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
6 Jan	36.7 °C	11 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 64
7 Jan	37.1 °C	11 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62
8 Jan	37.8 °C	10 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 63
9 Jan	38.7 °C	12 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 61
10 Jan	39.0 °C	13 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 64
11 Jan	38.9 °C	13 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
12 Jan	37.5 °C	14 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
13 Jan	37.8 °C	14 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62
14 Jan	38.3 °C	14 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
15 Jan	37.3 °C	11 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 70
16 Jan	37.1 °C	12 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 68
17 Jan	36.5 °C	17 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62
18 Jan	36.4 °C	12 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 64
19 Jan	36.7 °C	8 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
20 Jan	37.1 °C	9 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 65
21 Jan	37.6 °C	11 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
22 Jan	38.6 °C	11 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
23 Jan	39.3 °C	12 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 61
24 Jan	39.1 °C	13 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 64
25 Jan	38.1 °C	14 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 67
26 Jan	35.2 °C	13 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 72
27 Jan	34.3 °C	9 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 70
28 Jan	36.3 °C	11 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
29 Jan	36.0 °C	13 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 63
30 Jan	37.6 °C	11 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 68
31 Jan	36.2 °C	12 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
1 Feb	35.6 °C	11 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 73
2 Feb	35.6 °C	9 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 70
3 Feb	34.2 °C	10 %	41 km/h	0.4 mm	Extreme 69
4 Feb	37.7 °C	11 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 70
5 Feb	35.8 °C	11 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 67
6 Feb	36.1 °C	12 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 71
7 Feb after	37.1 °C	11 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 70
8 Feb after	38.4 °C	11 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 65
9 Feb after	39.7 °C	10 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 65
10 Feb after	40.1 °C	9 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
11 Feb after	40.5 °C	7 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 67
12 Feb after	40.8 °C	7 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 63
13 Feb after	41.4 °C	7 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 66
14 Feb after	42.0 °C	6 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
15 Feb after	41.7 °C	5 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 65
16 Feb after	37.8 °C	7 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 78

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 13 Dec 2023

After · 13 Feb 2024

Before After

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 26 January 2024 the air beside the fire reached 54 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 39: 2.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak54 µg/m³

Days over the guideline26 days

PM10122 µg/m³

Optical depth0.67

WHO 15

24252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303112

Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 1,917Every 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

All fires in South Sudan ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Baliet fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 December 2023 to 6 February 2024 (49 days). The perimeter dates it from 26 December 2023 to 30 January 2024.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 30,810 hectares (308.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Baliet (30,840 ha, 2.6 %); Longochuk (184 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 40.0 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 73, class Very extreme.
Where does this data come from?: From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of South Sudan (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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

26 October 2026 Last day with fire: 30 January 2024 → 6 February 2024.
26 October 2026 Start date: 26 December 2023 → 20 December 2023.

RSS Changes to this page

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?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

Your connection to the fire (optional) Email (optional)

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

How we know this

Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 4 polygons grouped in this page.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 26 December 2023 to 30 January 2024. 1,917 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 2025, 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.

Where it burned