Dima fire, 28 January 2019 Dima
The fire started on 28 January 2019 in Dima, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,769 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 358th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 130 in Ethiopia in 2019, of 220.
- Burnt area
- 2,769ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 28 Jan 2019 – 29 Jan 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 28 Jan
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 46
- in a single hotspot: 65 MW
- Danger at start
- 58
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 451MW
- 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 55 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
66% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,125 ha in 2016, 1,673 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,816 ha that had burned before.
- 1,657 ha Dima fire, January 2017 2,395 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 964 ha Dima fire, February 2016 3,257 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 153 ha Dima fire, January 2016 6,088 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 16 ha Dima fire, December 2017 3,570 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 8 ha Dima fire, January 2016 12,079 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Dima where it started2,563 ha reached on 28 Jan0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan | 41.5 °C | 17 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 29 Jan | 39.7 °C | 22 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 30 Jan after | 39.5 °C | 18 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 31 Jan after | 40.0 °C | 14 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 1 Feb after | 40.5 °C | 17 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 2 Feb after | 40.3 °C | 17 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 3 Feb after | 41.2 °C | 15 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 4 Feb after | 41.3 °C | 14 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 5 Feb after | 42.6 °C | 13 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 6 Feb after | 40.5 °C | 14 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 7 Feb after | 41.7 °C | 15 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 8 Feb after | 41.6 °C | 17 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
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 · 46Every 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 Dima fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 January 2019 and 29 January 2019: 2 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 2,769 hectares (27.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Dima (2,563 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 41.5 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, class Extreme.
- 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.