Dibat fire, January 2021 Dibat
The fire started on 1 January 2021 in Dibat, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,155 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 297th largest in Beneshangul Gumu since 2016 (of 699 with a page). Number 117 in Ethiopia in 2021, of 255.
The power measured by the satellite is low (20.7 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 3,155ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 1 Jan 2021 – 7 Jan 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 1 Jan
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 94
- in a single hotspot: 21 MW
- Danger at start
- 34
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 256MW
- 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
65% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 247 ha in 2017, 2,079 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,049 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Dibat where it started3,171 ha reached on 29 Dec1.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan | 35.0 °C | 21 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 2 Jan | 34.1 °C | 21 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 3 Jan | 34.6 °C | 20 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 4 Jan | 35.4 °C | 21 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 5 Jan | 35.9 °C | 18 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 6 Jan | 34.7 °C | 20 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 7 Jan | 35.1 °C | 21 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 8 Jan after | 35.0 °C | 23 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 9 Jan after | 32.2 °C | 26 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 10 Jan after | 33.0 °C | 22 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 11 Jan after | 33.1 °C | 21 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 12 Jan after | 33.7 °C | 20 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 13 Jan after | 33.7 °C | 20 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 14 Jan after | 33.4 °C | 21 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 15 Jan after | 34.3 °C | 19 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 16 Jan after | 35.4 °C | 17 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 17 Jan after | 34.9 °C | 18 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
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 · 94Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Dibat fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 1 January 2021 and 7 January 2021: 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 3,155 hectares (31.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Dibat (3,171 ha, 1.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 19 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, class 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.