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SS · South Sudan · –

Bor South fire, 21 November 2025 Twic East, Bor South

Out · last detection 8 Feb 2026, 22:46 UTC

The fire started on 21 November 2025 in Bor South, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 80 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 58,723 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.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

Number 17 in South Sudan in 2025, of 235.

GWIS near-real-time perimeter, from the layer that changed in August 2025: this fire is not compared with fires from earlier years, because since then the GWIS layer gives more and larger perimeters.

Burnt area
58,723ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
80days
21 Nov 2025 – 8 Feb 2026
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
21 Nov
2025
Heat detections
3,261
in a single hotspot: 234 MW
Danger at start
28
High · FWI index
Average daily power
614MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Nov8 Feb
8 Feb 2026

How it evolved, day by day

21 Nov 2025 · 9 MW · 2 22 Nov 2025 · 170 MW · 13 23 Nov 2025 · 10 MW · 1 24 Nov 2025 · 28 MW · 3 26 Nov 2025 · 12 MW · 1 27 Nov 2025 · 57 MW · 11 28 Nov 2025 · 122 MW · 10 29 Nov 2025 · 187 MW · 20 30 Nov 2025 · 122 MW · 11 1 Dec 2025 · 516 MW · 41 2 Dec 2025 · 202 MW · 27 3 Dec 2025 · 192 MW · 23 4 Dec 2025 · 99 MW · 15 5 Dec 2025 · 854 MW · 43 6 Dec 2025 · 257 MW · 23 7 Dec 2025 · 39 MW · 5 8 Dec 2025 · 195 MW · 18 9 Dec 2025 · 1 MW · 1 10 Dec 2025 · 305 MW · 23 11 Dec 2025 · 754 MW · 84 12 Dec 2025 · 86 MW · 8 13 Dec 2025 · 158 MW · 17 14 Dec 2025 · 19 MW · 4 15 Dec 2025 · 62 MW · 10 16 Dec 2025 · 827 MW · 30 17 Dec 2025 · 768 MW · 35 18 Dec 2025 · 1,428 MW · 79 19 Dec 2025 · 1,272 MW · 67 20 Dec 2025 · 165 MW · 33 21 Dec 2025 · 680 MW · 52 22 Dec 2025 · 1,434 MW · 60 23 Dec 2025 · 50 MW · 8 24 Dec 2025 · 566 MW · 39 25 Dec 2025 · 586 MW · 23 26 Dec 2025 · 1,865 MW · 116 27 Dec 2025 · 769 MW · 115 28 Dec 2025 · 495 MW · 26 29 Dec 2025 · 24 MW · 6 30 Dec 2025 · 1,115 MW · 61 31 Dec 2025 · 36 MW · 6 1 Jan 2026 · 182 MW · 25 2 Jan 2026 · 113 MW · 15 3 Jan 2026 · 1,105 MW · 51 4 Jan 2026 · 2,562 MW · 119 5 Jan 2026 · 1,861 MW · 136 6 Jan 2026 · 1,163 MW · 58 7 Jan 2026 · 3,056 MW · 104 8 Jan 2026 · 621 MW · 51 9 Jan 2026 · 690 MW · 57 10 Jan 2026 · 590 MW · 42 11 Jan 2026 · 361 MW · 38 12 Jan 2026 · 994 MW · 117 13 Jan 2026 · 1,398 MW · 83 14 Jan 2026 · 2,270 MW · 136 15 Jan 2026 · 780 MW · 98 16 Jan 2026 · 635 MW · 91 17 Jan 2026 · 429 MW · 45 18 Jan 2026 · 940 MW · 71 19 Jan 2026 · 357 MW · 25 20 Jan 2026 · 327 MW · 32 21 Jan 2026 · 1 MW · 1 22 Jan 2026 · 751 MW · 64 23 Jan 2026 · 208 MW · 22 24 Jan 2026 · 578 MW · 59 25 Jan 2026 · 2,476 MW · 118 26 Jan 2026 · 639 MW · 51 28 Jan 2026 · 2,116 MW · 126 29 Jan 2026 · 512 MW · 41 30 Jan 2026 · 497 MW · 32 31 Jan 2026 · 233 MW · 27 2 Feb 2026 · 214 MW · 12 3 Feb 2026 · 241 MW · 19 4 Feb 2026 · 434 MW · 20 5 Feb 2026 · 2 MW · 2 6 Feb 2026 · 112 MW · 26 7 Feb 2026 · 58 MW · 13 8 Feb 2026 · 1,221 MW · 64
21 Nov 8 Dec 24 Dec 7 Jan 25 Jan

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

Fire front film How it spread from one satellite pass to the next (123 passes) and with what wind. Watch the film

The weather it burned in

40°high
48km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

36% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 82 ha in 2016, 6,687 ha in 2017, 1,263 ha in 2018, 7,336 ha in 2020, 740 ha in 2023, 5,066 ha in 2024, 2,958 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 21,088 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 37% of the area of London (587 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. 57,599 ha reached on 4 Dec
    9.6 %
  2. Bor South where it started
    11,674 ha reached on 21 Nov
    0.8 %

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 area1.4 ha
Residents≈ 3,100

Inside the perimeter there were about 1.4 hectares of built-up land and about 3,100 residents (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)
21 Nov 35.3 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Nov 36.2 °C 20 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 Nov 36.0 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
24 Nov 35.6 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
25 Nov 36.0 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm High 37
26 Nov 35.6 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
27 Nov 35.5 °C 30 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Nov 35.3 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm High 37
29 Nov 35.5 °C 33 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
30 Nov 36.2 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
1 Dec 36.6 °C 21 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
2 Dec 36.2 °C 18 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Dec 35.6 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Dec 36.4 °C 26 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
5 Dec 35.7 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
6 Dec 35.2 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Dec 36.1 °C 29 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Dec 36.5 °C 29 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
9 Dec 34.9 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 42
10 Dec 34.8 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
11 Dec 34.3 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
12 Dec 33.8 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
13 Dec 33.3 °C 22 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
14 Dec 33.4 °C 34 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
15 Dec 31.9 °C 25 % 32 km/h 1.6 mm High 27
16 Dec 32.2 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
17 Dec 33.2 °C 20 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Dec 32.1 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
19 Dec 32.9 °C 21 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Dec 34.1 °C 22 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
21 Dec 34.0 °C 21 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
22 Dec 33.7 °C 30 % 24 km/h 0.2 mm High 36
23 Dec 33.3 °C 36 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
24 Dec 36.1 °C 28 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
25 Dec 36.3 °C 22 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
26 Dec 36.1 °C 21 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 Dec 35.8 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 Dec 34.2 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
29 Dec 34.7 °C 17 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
30 Dec 33.3 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
31 Dec 33.4 °C 17 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Jan 35.6 °C 19 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
2 Jan 34.1 °C 27 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
3 Jan 36.6 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
4 Jan 36.1 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Jan 35.6 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
6 Jan 36.0 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
7 Jan 36.6 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
8 Jan 37.4 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
9 Jan 37.3 °C 22 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
10 Jan 35.3 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
11 Jan 35.3 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
12 Jan 36.1 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
13 Jan 36.3 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
14 Jan 35.0 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Jan 35.0 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
16 Jan 34.3 °C 22 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
17 Jan 35.6 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
18 Jan 36.5 °C 18 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
19 Jan 37.1 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
20 Jan 37.1 °C 22 % 31 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 48
21 Jan 36.5 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Jan 39.0 °C 18 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
23 Jan 38.1 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
24 Jan 39.3 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 Jan 39.6 °C 12 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
26 Jan 39.2 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
27 Jan 38.5 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
28 Jan 36.8 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
29 Jan 37.1 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
30 Jan 37.8 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
31 Jan 37.3 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
1 Feb 31.7 °C 29 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
2 Feb 36.1 °C 26 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
3 Feb 38.9 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
4 Feb 39.6 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
5 Feb 33.7 °C 21 % 26 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 47
6 Feb 37.2 °C 23 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
7 Feb 36.8 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Feb 37.8 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Feb after 37.2 °C 17 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
10 Feb after 33.4 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
11 Feb after 37.8 °C 23 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
12 Feb after 36.0 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Feb after 38.5 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
14 Feb after 38.0 °C 16 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
15 Feb after 36.3 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
16 Feb after 37.2 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
17 Feb after 38.5 °C 25 % 22 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 38
18 Feb after 36.9 °C 27 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 14 Nov 2025
After · 15 Feb 2026

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 31 December 2025 the air beside the fire reached 174 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 98: 6.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak174 µg/m³
Days over the guideline69 days
PM10181 µg/m³
Optical depth1.41
20 Nov7 Dec24 Dec10 Jan27 Jan
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 · 3,261Every 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 South Sudan

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bor South fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 21 November 2025 to 8 February 2026 (80 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 November 2025 to 8 February 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 58,723 hectares (587.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Twic East (57,599 ha, 9.6 %); Bor South (11,674 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.6 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, class 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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Area: 68,829 → 58,723 ha.
  2. Start date: 22 November 2025 → 21 November 2025.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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; 4 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 22 November 2025 to 8 February 2026. 3,261 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.