Dibat fire, 23 January 2016 Yaso, Dibat
The fire started on 23 January 2016 in Dibat, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,223 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 167th largest in Beneshangul Gumu since 2016 (of 699 with a page). Number 85 in Ethiopia in 2016, of 309.
- Burnt area
- 4,223ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 23 Jan 2016 – 27 Jan 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 23 Jan
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 123
- in a single hotspot: 52 MW
- Danger at start
- 40
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 823MW
- 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
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
3,343 ha reached on 23 Jan1.3 %
-
Dibat where it started907 ha reached on 23 Jan0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Jan | 36.2 °C | 19 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 24 Jan | 35.1 °C | 20 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 25 Jan | 36.4 °C | 14 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 26 Jan | 35.7 °C | 22 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 27 Jan | 35.4 °C | 20 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 28 Jan after | 34.6 °C | 19 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 29 Jan after | 33.6 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 30 Jan after | 35.1 °C | 16 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 31 Jan after | 32.0 °C | 21 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 1 Feb after | 35.9 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 2 Feb after | 34.8 °C | 17 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 3 Feb after | 36.5 °C | 16 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 4 Feb after | 36.2 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 5 Feb after | 35.3 °C | 20 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 6 Feb after | 36.0 °C | 15 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
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 · 123Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 8,143 haDibat29 February 2016 · 8 days · 17 km away
- 8,720 haBulen10 January 2019 · 14 days · 29 km away
- 7,791 haDibat23 January 2020 · 15 days · 30 km away
- 8,828 haYaso5 January 2016 · 16 days · 32 km away
- 7,826 haDibat28 February 2020 · 8 days · 34 km away
- 11,905 haYaso7 January 2017 · 8 days · 35 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Dibat fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 January 2016 and 27 January 2016: 5 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 4,223 hectares (42.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yaso (3,343 ha, 1.3 %); Dibat (907 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 36 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.
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.