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ET · Ethiopia · –

Dangura fire, 1 December 2020 Dangura, Guba

Out · last detection 31 Dec 2020, 23:47 UTC

The fire started on 1 December 2020 in Dangura, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 30 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,520 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 59th largest in Beneshangul Gumu since 2016 (of 635 with a page). Number 22 in Ethiopia in 2020, of 177.

Compare with…
Burnt area
7,520ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
30days
1 Dec 2020 – 30 Dec 2020
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
1 Dec
2020
Heat detections
247
in a single hotspot: 69 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Average daily power
66MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 1 Dec30 Dec
31 Dec 2020

How it evolved, day by day

1 Dec 2020 · 4 MW · 1 2 Dec 2020 · 7 MW · 4 5 Dec 2020 · 75 MW · 7 6 Dec 2020 · 4 MW · 1 7 Dec 2020 · 95 MW · 5 8 Dec 2020 · 132 MW · 9 9 Dec 2020 · 51 MW · 6 10 Dec 2020 · 109 MW · 12 11 Dec 2020 · 102 MW · 12 12 Dec 2020 · 146 MW · 32 13 Dec 2020 · 443 MW · 22 14 Dec 2020 · 69 MW · 10 15 Dec 2020 · 56 MW · 5 16 Dec 2020 · 10 MW · 3 17 Dec 2020 · 24 MW · 9 18 Dec 2020 · 6 MW · 3 19 Dec 2020 · 16 MW · 10 20 Dec 2020 · 104 MW · 26 21 Dec 2020 · 155 MW · 25 22 Dec 2020 · 41 MW · 13 23 Dec 2020 · 24 MW · 9 24 Dec 2020 · 2 MW · 1 26 Dec 2020 · 2 MW · 1 28 Dec 2020 · 13 MW · 7 29 Dec 2020 · 2 MW · 1 30 Dec 2020 · 49 MW · 8 31 Dec 2020 · 34 MW · 5
1 Dec 13 Dec 21 Dec 29 Dec

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
24km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 30 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

69% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,655 ha in 2016, 2,402 ha in 2017, 3,946 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,195 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 4.7% of the area of London (75 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. Dangura where it started
    7,295 ha reached on 1 Dec
    1.4 %
  2. 287 ha reached on 2 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 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, 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.

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)
1 Dec 32.8 °C 25 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
2 Dec 34.9 °C 25 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
3 Dec 33.1 °C 28 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
4 Dec 33.3 °C 29 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
5 Dec 33.8 °C 28 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
6 Dec 33.9 °C 27 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Dec 36.2 °C 26 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
8 Dec 35.4 °C 27 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
9 Dec 35.4 °C 25 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
10 Dec 35.9 °C 22 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 Dec 36.1 °C 22 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Dec 34.9 °C 18 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
13 Dec 35.9 °C 19 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Dec 35.2 °C 19 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
15 Dec 35.8 °C 16 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
16 Dec 35.7 °C 15 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
17 Dec 35.0 °C 20 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
18 Dec 34.6 °C 20 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
19 Dec 35.1 °C 20 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Dec 34.9 °C 22 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
21 Dec 35.2 °C 22 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Dec 36.5 °C 18 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Dec 36.7 °C 21 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
24 Dec 36.6 °C 16 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Dec 37.2 °C 19 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Dec 35.9 °C 22 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
27 Dec 34.8 °C 23 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
28 Dec 36.4 °C 22 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Dec 36.0 °C 20 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
30 Dec 36.3 °C 17 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
31 Dec after 36.3 °C 18 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Jan after 34.9 °C 22 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
2 Jan after 34.7 °C 18 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
3 Jan after 35.1 °C 18 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
4 Jan after 35.7 °C 19 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
5 Jan after 36.4 °C 18 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Jan after 34.6 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Jan after 35.2 °C 21 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Jan after 35.1 °C 22 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
9 Jan after 33.1 °C 23 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 34.5, a minimum humidity of 25% and 30 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 47.

FWI at the start 34.5
Minimum humidity 25 %
Days without rain 30
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Guba fire, December 2024
2,524 ha 12 days FWI 37.3 Min. humidity 23 % 60 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

What happened to them

10 days
median duration
2,679 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
2.8 mm
rain at the end (median; 3 of 47 had it)

It was 2.8 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 30 days, against 10 days.

Only 7 of its 47 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 44 of 47, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.8 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
24km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 30 Dec, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 3 of 47, with a median of 2.8 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Nov 2020
After · 6 Jan 2021

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 · 247Every 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 Ethiopia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Dangura fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 1 December 2020 to 30 December 2020 (30 days). The perimeter dates it from 8 December 2020 to 23 December 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 7,520 hectares (75.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Dangura (7,295 ha, 1.4 %); Guba (287 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.2 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 24 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 47. Their median duration was 10 days and their median area 2,679 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 7 of its 47 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 44 of 47, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.8 mm.

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. Last day with fire: 23 December 2020 → 30 December 2020.
  2. Start date: 8 December 2020 → 1 December 2020.

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.

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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 8 December 2020 to 23 December 2020. 247 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 2020, 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 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.