Dima fire, 29 January 2019 Dima
The fire started on 29 January 2019 in Dima, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,557 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 229th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 73 in Ethiopia in 2019, of 220.
The power measured by the satellite is low (23.5 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
- 3,557ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 1day
- 29 Jan 2019 – 29 Jan 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 29 Jan
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 82
- in a single hotspot: 24 MW
- Danger at start
- 50
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 546MW
- 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 56 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
53% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,048 ha in 2016, 956 ha in 2017, 177 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,877 ha that had burned before.
- 785 ha Dima fire, January 2016 12,079 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 263 ha Dima fire, December 2016 3,570 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 197 ha Dima fire, January 2017 2,049 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 177 ha Dima fire, January 2018 2,515 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10 ha Dima fire, December 2017 3,570 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Dima where it started3,583 ha reached on 29 Jan0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Jan | 39.5 °C | 22 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 30 Jan after | 39.4 °C | 18 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 31 Jan after | 39.6 °C | 14 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 1 Feb after | 40.3 °C | 17 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 2 Feb after | 40.0 °C | 17 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 3 Feb after | 41.1 °C | 15 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 4 Feb after | 41.1 °C | 14 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 5 Feb after | 42.4 °C | 13 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 6 Feb after | 40.0 °C | 14 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 7 Feb after | 41.4 °C | 16 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 8 Feb after | 41.0 °C | 18 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
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 · 82Every 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 29 January 2019 and 29 January 2019: 1 day 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 3,557 hectares (35.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Dima (3,583 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.5 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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.