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Chekwii fire, 4 November 2025 Chekwii, Pian

Out · last detection 1 Dec 2025, 11:40 UTC

The fire started on 4 November 2025 in Chekwii, Uganda, and satellites saw it burning for 27 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 12,725 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 5th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 1377 with a page). Number 4 in Uganda in 2025, of 226.

Burnt area
12,725ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
27days
4 Nov 2025 – 30 Nov 2025
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
4 Nov
2025
Heat detections
274
in a single hotspot: 62 MW
Danger at start
10
Low · FWI index
Energy released
2.3GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

1 Dec 2025
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 4 Nov30 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

456710111314161819202122232426272829301

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

The weather it burned in

35°high
54km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

1% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 103 ha in 2018.

What happened to each town

  1. Chekwii where it started
    10,111 ha reached on 4 Nov
    4.5 %
  2. Pian
    2,694 ha reached on 4 Nov
    1.5 %

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)
4 Nov 31.7 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
5 Nov 32.1 °C 32 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
6 Nov 32.0 °C 35 % 26 km/h 0.3 mm Low 11
7 Nov 32.3 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 13
8 Nov 32.1 °C 36 % 37 km/h 1.3 mm Low 10
9 Nov 31.3 °C 35 % 40 km/h 1.2 mm Low 9
10 Nov 32.8 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
11 Nov 34.2 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
12 Nov 34.9 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
13 Nov 34.0 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
14 Nov 33.7 °C 24 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
15 Nov 34.5 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
16 Nov 35.4 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
17 Nov 33.9 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
18 Nov 33.3 °C 28 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
19 Nov 33.9 °C 26 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
20 Nov 34.1 °C 23 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
21 Nov 33.9 °C 21 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Nov 34.0 °C 16 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
23 Nov 33.5 °C 23 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
24 Nov 35.0 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 Nov 34.7 °C 23 % 45 km/h 0.3 mm High 37
26 Nov 34.9 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 Nov 33.5 °C 24 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Nov 35.1 °C 19 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
29 Nov 35.0 °C 21 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
30 Nov 33.7 °C 19 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Dec after 34.4 °C 15 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
2 Dec after 34.8 °C 13 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
3 Dec after 35.0 °C 18 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
4 Dec after 34.8 °C 20 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Dec after 34.0 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
6 Dec after 33.7 °C 23 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
7 Dec after 34.3 °C 21 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
8 Dec after 34.7 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
9 Dec after 35.4 °C 20 % 46 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 45
10 Dec after 34.4 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 28 Oct 2025
After · 7 Dec 2025

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 4 November 2025 the air beside the fire reached 29 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 18: 1.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak29 µg/m³
Days over the guideline1 day
PM1029 µg/m³
Optical depth0.43
23456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930123
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 · 274Every 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 Uganda ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Chekwii fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 4 November 2025 and 30 November 2025: 27 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 12,725 hectares (127.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Chekwii (10,111 ha, 4.5 %); Pian (2,694 ha, 1.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.4 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, class Very high.
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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 999 · 112.

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.