Dodoth fire, 1 January 2026 Dodoth
The fire started on 1 January 2026 in Dodoth, Uganda, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,483 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 80th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 1377 with a page). Number 21 in Uganda in 2026, of 270.
- Burnt area
- 3,483ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 1 Jan 2026 – 5 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- counties
- Started on
- 1 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 49
- in a single hotspot: 68 MW
- Danger at start
- 28
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.1GW
- 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 12 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
70% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,614 ha in 2016, 934 ha in 2018, 137 ha in 2021, 351 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,423 ha that had burned before.
- 1,614 ha Dodoth fire, December 2016 2,594 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 934 ha Dodoth fire, January 2018 1,347 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 351 ha Dodoth fire, December 2023 1,597 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 137 ha Dodoth fire, December 2021 1,036 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Dodoth where it started3,506 ha reached on 1 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan | 29.3 °C | 38 % | 44 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 28 |
| 2 Jan | 31.2 °C | 29 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 3 Jan | 32.9 °C | 22 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 4 Jan | 30.5 °C | 30 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 5 Jan | 32.4 °C | 20 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 6 Jan after | 31.8 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 7 Jan after | 32.4 °C | 19 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 8 Jan after | 31.6 °C | 17 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 9 Jan after | 32.1 °C | 18 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 10 Jan after | 31.7 °C | 20 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 11 Jan after | 31.9 °C | 24 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 12 Jan after | 31.2 °C | 26 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 13 Jan after | 31.7 °C | 24 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 14 Jan after | 31.6 °C | 23 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 15 Jan after | 31.4 °C | 19 % | 45 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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 31 December 2025 the air beside the fire reached 35 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 31: 2.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 49Every 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 Dodoth fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 1 January 2026 and 5 January 2026: 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 3,483 hectares (34.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Dodoth (3,506 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.9 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Uganda (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.
Emergency number: 999 · 112
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 ADM2 (Public Domain). 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.