Dima fire, 12 February 2022 Dima
The fire started on 12 February 2022 in Dima, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,671 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 387th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 67 in Ethiopia in 2022, of 135.
The power measured by the satellite is low (27.2 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
- 2,671ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 12 Feb 2022 – 17 Feb 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 12 Feb
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 65
- in a single hotspot: 27 MW
- Danger at start
- 43
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 499MW
- 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 25 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
86% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 440 ha in 2016, 1,447 ha in 2017, 1,605 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,297 ha that had burned before.
- 1,564 ha Dima fire, January 2019 2,769 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,073 ha Dima fire, January 2017 2,395 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 404 ha Dima fire, February 2016 3,257 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 336 ha Dima fire, December 2017 3,570 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 39 ha Dima fire, January 2017 2,570 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 33 ha Dima fire, January 2016 12,079 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3 ha Dima fire, January 2016 6,088 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Dima where it started2,119 ha reached on 12 Feb0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Feb | 37.7 °C | 18 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 13 Feb | 38.5 °C | 20 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 14 Feb | 39.3 °C | 13 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 15 Feb | 38.9 °C | 19 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 16 Feb | 39.9 °C | 13 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 17 Feb | 39.5 °C | 13 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 18 Feb after | 39.8 °C | 13 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 19 Feb after | 40.4 °C | 13 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 20 Feb after | 39.4 °C | 6 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 21 Feb after | 37.0 °C | 10 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 22 Feb after | 38.2 °C | 11 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 23 Feb after | 39.5 °C | 11 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 24 Feb after | 40.3 °C | 13 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 25 Feb after | 38.3 °C | 21 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 26 Feb after | 39.1 °C | 22 % | 27 km/h | 0.3 mm | Very high 45 |
| 27 Feb after | 40.4 °C | 19 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
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 · 65Every 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 12 February 2022 and 17 February 2022: 6 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 2,671 hectares (26.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Dima (2,119 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.9 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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.