Bulen fire, January 2023 Bulen, Dangura
The fire started on 25 January 2023 in Bulen, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,403 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 258th largest in Beneshangul Gumu since 2016 (of 699 with a page). Number 36 in Ethiopia in 2023, of 101.
- Burnt area
- 3,403ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 25 Jan 2023 – 31 Jan 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 25 Jan
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 204
- in a single hotspot: 66 MW
- Danger at start
- 35
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.2GW
- 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
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,026 ha in 2016, 1,625 ha in 2017, 1,595 ha in 2018, 2,754 ha in 2019, 1,005 ha in 2020, 1,280 ha in 2021, 1,667 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,394 ha that had burned before.
- 2,152 ha Bulen fire, January 2019 13,586 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,667 ha Bulen fire, January 2022 91,996 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,443 ha Dangura fire, February 2016 89,959 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,005 ha Dangura fire, January 2020 125,093 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 822 ha Bulen fire, January 2018 7,324 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 583 ha Dangura fire, January 2016 2,955 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 412 ha Dangura fire, February 2017 39,054 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 340 ha Dangura fire, January 2017 8,780 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Bulen where it started2,402 ha reached on 22 Jan0.8 %
-
1,025 ha reached on 22 Jan0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Jan | 34.7 °C | 18 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 26 Jan | 35.1 °C | 20 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 27 Jan | 34.6 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 28 Jan | 35.2 °C | 17 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 29 Jan | 34.7 °C | 15 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 30 Jan | 36.0 °C | 17 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 31 Jan | 36.4 °C | 19 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 1 Feb after | 35.3 °C | 18 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 2 Feb after | 34.8 °C | 23 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 3 Feb after | 33.6 °C | 23 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 4 Feb after | 35.0 °C | 25 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 5 Feb after | 35.2 °C | 17 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 6 Feb after | 35.4 °C | 20 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 7 Feb after | 35.6 °C | 19 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 8 Feb after | 35.5 °C | 21 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 9 Feb after | 36.4 °C | 18 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 10 Feb after | 34.8 °C | 21 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
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 · 204Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 125,093 haDangura29 January 2020 · 52 days · 4 km away
- 91,996 haBulen26 January 2022 · 53 days · 5 km away
- 89,959 haDangura15 February 2016 · 23 days · 17 km away
- 92,220 haDangura17 February 2026 · 26 days · 18 km away
- 55,089 haMandura25 February 2024 · 15 days · 22 km away
- 55,315 haDanguraMarch 2018 · 6 days · 23 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Bulen fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 January 2023 and 31 January 2023: 7 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 3,403 hectares (34.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bulen (2,402 ha, 0.8 %); Dangura (1,025 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 29 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ethiopia (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
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 ADM3 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.