Darimu fire, January 2018 Darimu
The fire started on 12 January 2018 in Darimu, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,273 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 96th largest in Oromia since 2016 (of 264 with a page). Number 34 in Ethiopia in 2018, of 96.
- Burnt area
- 3,273ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 12 Jan 2018 – 18 Jan 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 12 Jan
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 99
- in a single hotspot: 63 MW
- Danger at start
- 34
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 729MW
- 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
82% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 4,022 ha in 2016, 173 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,697 ha that had burned before.
- 2,307 ha Metu Zuria fire, December 2016 11,128 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 52 ha Darimu fire, February 2016 4,618 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 13 ha Darimu fire, January 2017 2,511 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Darimu where it started3,293 ha reached on 8 Jan2.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Jan | 31.0 °C | 16 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 13 Jan | 32.0 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 14 Jan | 32.3 °C | 12 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 15 Jan | 32.3 °C | 11 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 16 Jan | 31.7 °C | 14 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 17 Jan | 31.8 °C | 16 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 18 Jan | 31.3 °C | 17 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 19 Jan after | 31.1 °C | 18 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 20 Jan after | 31.0 °C | 19 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 21 Jan after | 29.1 °C | 24 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 22 Jan after | 30.7 °C | 22 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 23 Jan after | 31.6 °C | 21 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 24 Jan after | 31.2 °C | 23 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 25 Jan after | 31.3 °C | 23 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 26 Jan after | 32.5 °C | 23 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 27 Jan after | 32.5 °C | 22 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 28 Jan after | 31.2 °C | 24 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
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 · 99Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 11,128 haMetu ZuriaDecember 2016 · 9 days · 7 km away
- 8,132 haMetu Zuria27 January 2017 · 7 days · 9 km away
- 4,618 haDarimu3 February 2016 · 5 days · 9 km away
- 4,964 haHawa Galan18 December 2016 · 7 days · 13 km away
- 5,441 haBureDecember 2021 · 10 days · 26 km away
- 5,118 haHawa Galan28 December 2016 · 7 days · 27 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Darimu fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 January 2018 and 18 January 2018: 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 3,273 hectares (32.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Darimu (3,293 ha, 2.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.3 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 31 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 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.