Bokora fire, 20 August 2026 Bokora, Jie
The fire started on 20 August 2026 in Bokora, Uganda, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,159 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 57th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 1377 with a page). Number 14 in Uganda in 2026, of 270.
- Burnt area
- 4,159ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 14days
- 20 Aug 2026 – 2 Sept 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- counties
- Started on
- 20 Aug
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 66
- in a single hotspot: 40 MW
- Danger at start
- 36
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.0GW
- 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 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
80% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 10 ha in 2016, 1,729 ha in 2017, 996 ha in 2019, 2 ha in 2021, 2,730 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,347 ha that had burned before.
- 2,730 ha Bokora fire, November 2025 15,293 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,103 ha Bokora fire, December 2017 3,577 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 996 ha Bokora fire, December 2019 1,533 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 626 ha Jie fire, December 2017 3,385 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10 ha Jie fire, October 2016 1,141 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2 ha Bokora fire, December 2021 2,279 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Bokora where it started3,621 ha reached on 22 Aug0.7 %
-
567 ha reached on 22 Aug0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Aug | 32.8 °C | 27 % | 22 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 36 |
| 21 Aug | 32.8 °C | 31 % | 22 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 26 |
| 22 Aug | 34.6 °C | 20 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 23 Aug | 32.8 °C | 25 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 24 Aug | 35.1 °C | 15 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 25 Aug | 35.6 °C | 21 % | 31 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 43 |
| 26 Aug | 35.7 °C | 17 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 27 Aug | 35.4 °C | 20 % | 37 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 50 |
| 28 Aug | 35.1 °C | 17 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 29 Aug | 35.8 °C | 13 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 30 Aug | 34.5 °C | 18 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 31 Aug | 34.7 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 1 Sept | 34.6 °C | 26 % | 34 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 46 |
| 2 Sept | 35.1 °C | 20 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 3 Sept after | 36.3 °C | 15 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 4 Sept after | 35.7 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 5 Sept after | 35.5 °C | 21 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 6 Sept after | 35.1 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 7 Sept after | 36.1 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 8 Sept after | 35.9 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 9 Sept after | 34.6 °C | 25 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 10 Sept after | 33.5 °C | 23 % | 31 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 45 |
| 11 Sept after | 34.1 °C | 22 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 12 Sept after | 34.5 °C | 23 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 20 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 21 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 17: 1.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 66Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,577 haBokora18 December 2017 · 5 days · 6 km away
- 15,293 haBokora8 November 2025 · 28 days · 8 km away
- 12,360 haBokora11 December 2020 · 7 days · 15 km away
- 7,751 haJie22 August 2026 · 18 days · 20 km away
- 4,115 haBokora9 November 2025 · 6 days · 20 km away
- 5,100 haJie3 November 2025 · 15 days · 25 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Bokora fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 August 2026 to 2 September 2026 (14 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 August 2026 to 1 September 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,159 hectares (41.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bokora (3,621 ha, 0.7 %); Jie (567 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.8 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 40 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 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
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.