Donga fire, December 2025 Donga, Bali, Kurmi
The fire started on 26 December 2025 in Donga, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 43 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 57,756 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the largest fire in Taraba since 2016 (of 160 with a page). Number 2 in Nigeria in 2025, of 320.
Compare with…
Suggestions: Donga · 2024Donga · 2019Donga · 2024Donga · 2016
- Burnt area
- 57,756ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 43days
- 26 Dec 2025 – 6 Feb 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- local government areas
- Started on
- 26 Dec
- 2025
- Heat detections
- 2,390
- in a single hotspot: 66 MW
- Danger at start
- 37
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 359MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 44 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
43% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,996 ha in 2016, 1,744 ha in 2017, 5,597 ha in 2018, 3,577 ha in 2019, 1,493 ha in 2020, 5,679 ha in 2021, 5,185 ha in 2022, 4,209 ha in 2023, 5,574 ha in 2024, 10,207 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 24,652 ha that had burned before.
- 3,230 ha Donga fire, December 2024 4,568 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,723 ha Donga fire, January 2019 3,179 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,135 ha Donga fire, January 2024 4,484 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,849 ha Donga fire, January 2016 2,214 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,847 ha Donga fire, December 2022 2,534 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,823 ha Donga fire, January 2021 2,019 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,785 ha Donga fire, January 2025 3,191 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,744 ha Donga fire, January 2017 2,096 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Donga where it started28,530 ha reached on 27 Dec9.2 %
-
22,845 ha reached on 26 Dec2.3 %
-
6,717 ha reached on 27 Dec1.5 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Dec | 37.0 °C | 30 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 27 Dec | 36.5 °C | 32 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 28 Dec | 35.7 °C | 35 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 29 Dec | 36.9 °C | 35 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 30 Dec | 37.4 °C | 30 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 31 Dec | 37.5 °C | 34 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Jan | 38.9 °C | 28 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 2 Jan | 37.0 °C | 31 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 3 Jan | 36.6 °C | 28 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 4 Jan | 38.3 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 5 Jan | 37.1 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 6 Jan | 37.9 °C | 17 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 7 Jan | 35.6 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 8 Jan | 34.2 °C | 38 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 9 Jan | 37.8 °C | 12 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 10 Jan | 36.5 °C | 14 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 11 Jan | 36.1 °C | 20 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 12 Jan | 36.7 °C | 21 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 13 Jan | 37.0 °C | 18 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 14 Jan | 35.1 °C | 21 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 15 Jan | 36.2 °C | 23 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 16 Jan | 37.3 °C | 21 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 17 Jan | 37.4 °C | 19 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 18 Jan | 36.3 °C | 36 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 19 Jan | 36.5 °C | 39 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 20 Jan | 35.3 °C | 44 % | 26 km/h | 1.6 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 21 Jan | 35.4 °C | 41 % | 22 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 23 |
| 22 Jan | 34.6 °C | 44 % | 26 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 23 Jan | 37.3 °C | 22 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 24 Jan | 36.1 °C | 23 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 25 Jan | 36.9 °C | 21 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 26 Jan | 36.6 °C | 19 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 27 Jan | 36.4 °C | 18 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 28 Jan | 36.0 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 29 Jan | 37.0 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 30 Jan | 35.2 °C | 18 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 31 Jan | 36.7 °C | 28 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 1 Feb | 37.2 °C | 35 % | 25 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 35 |
| 2 Feb | 39.4 °C | 19 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 3 Feb | 38.9 °C | 27 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 4 Feb | 36.6 °C | 28 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 5 Feb | 38.8 °C | 26 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 6 Feb | 37.6 °C | 31 % | 29 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 38 |
| 7 Feb after | 36.9 °C | 33 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 8 Feb after | 38.5 °C | 26 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 9 Feb after | 38.4 °C | 27 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 10 Feb after | 38.4 °C | 26 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 11 Feb after | 36.5 °C | 36 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 12 Feb after | 36.5 °C | 30 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 13 Feb after | 38.1 °C | 29 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 14 Feb after | 37.1 °C | 29 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 15 Feb after | 37.4 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 16 Feb after | 37.9 °C | 20 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
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 30 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 108 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 95: 6.3 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 · 2,390Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 5,631 haDonga3 January 2026 · 32 days · 14 km away
- 3,537 haBali22 January 2025 · 18 days · 15 km away
- 4,484 haDongaJanuary 2024 · 22 days · 18 km away
- 4,568 haDongaDecember 2024 · 19 days · 19 km away
- 3,426 haKurmi11 January 2021 · 24 days · 26 km away
- 4,778 haKurmi18 February 2026 · 18 days · 31 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Donga fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 26 December 2025 to 6 February 2026 (43 days). The perimeter dates it from 1 January 2026 to 31 January 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 57,756 hectares (577.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Donga (28,530 ha, 9.2 %); Bali (22,845 ha, 2.3 %); Kurmi (6,717 ha, 1.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.4 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 47, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Nigeria (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: 112 · Emergency number and official warnings ›
Satellite cross-check
History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
No changes since 24 October 2026.
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 11 polygons grouped in this page.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 1 January 2026 to 31 January 2026. 2,390 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.