Ezo fire, December 2023 Ezo, Nzara
The fire started on 28 December 2023 in Ezo, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,629 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 178th largest in Western Equatoria since 2016 (of 361 with a page). Number 58 in South Sudan in 2023, of 106.
- Burnt area
- 7,629ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 28 Dec 2023 – 30 Dec 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- counties
- Started on
- 28 Dec
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 205
- in a single hotspot: 134 MW
- Danger at start
- 34
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.6GW
- 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 24 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
97% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,679 ha in 2016, 5,210 ha in 2017, 512 ha in 2018, 1,150 ha in 2019, 4,009 ha in 2020, 2,896 ha in 2021, 1,995 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 7,425 ha that had burned before.
- 4,023 ha Nzara fire, December 2017 14,605 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,913 ha Nzara fire, December 2016 11,886 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,220 ha Ezo fire, December 2022 34,202 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 961 ha Ezo fire, January 2020 10,339 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 766 ha Ezo fire, December 2016 7,078 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 450 ha Ezo fire, December 2021 35,433 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 287 ha Nzara fire, January 2020 8,784 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Ezo where it started7,226 ha reached on 28 Dec0.9 %
-
458 ha reached on 28 Dec0.1 %
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 Dec | 34.6 °C | 19 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 29 Dec | 35.2 °C | 17 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 30 Dec | 35.6 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 31 Dec after | 35.6 °C | 16 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 1 Jan after | 35.0 °C | 16 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 2 Jan after | 36.1 °C | 17 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 3 Jan after | 35.7 °C | 14 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 4 Jan after | 35.8 °C | 12 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 5 Jan after | 34.7 °C | 12 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 6 Jan after | 34.9 °C | 13 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 7 Jan after | 34.8 °C | 12 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 8 Jan after | 36.0 °C | 13 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 9 Jan after | 36.2 °C | 15 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
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 · 205Every 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 Ezo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 December 2023 and 30 December 2023: 3 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 7,629 hectares (76.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ezo (7,226 ha, 0.9 %); Nzara (458 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.6 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 31 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of South Sudan (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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.