Fangak fire, February 2019 Fangak, Ayod
The fire started on 28 February 2019 in Fangak, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 10,803 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 109th largest in Jonglei since 2016 (of 427 with a page). Number 49 in South Sudan in 2019, of 150.
- Burnt area
- 10,803ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 15days
- 28 Feb 2019 – 14 Mar 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- counties
- Started on
- 28 Feb
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 497
- in a single hotspot: 181 MW
- Danger at start
- 57
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 6.7GW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
60% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,807 ha in 2016, 6,122 ha in 2017, 1,648 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,505 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Fangak where it started8,561 ha reached on 25 Feb1.1 %
-
2,309 ha reached on 25 Feb0.2 %
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 Feb | 39.8 °C | 15 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 1 Mar | 36.4 °C | 11 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 2 Mar | 37.5 °C | 7 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 3 Mar | 39.3 °C | 7 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 4 Mar | 40.8 °C | 7 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 5 Mar | 41.5 °C | 10 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 74 |
| 6 Mar | 40.5 °C | 8 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 73 |
| 7 Mar | 39.1 °C | 6 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 69 |
| 8 Mar | 39.4 °C | 8 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 74 |
| 9 Mar | 39.7 °C | 7 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 73 |
| 10 Mar | 40.1 °C | 8 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 11 Mar | 40.9 °C | 10 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 71 |
| 12 Mar | 41.5 °C | 11 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 13 Mar | 40.3 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 14 Mar | 42.0 °C | 9 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 15 Mar after | 41.0 °C | 8 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 16 Mar after | 40.6 °C | 7 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 76 |
| 17 Mar after | 40.4 °C | 6 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 75 |
| 18 Mar after | 40.8 °C | 8 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 19 Mar after | 40.8 °C | 9 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 20 Mar after | 41.9 °C | 7 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 21 Mar after | 42.7 °C | 8 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 69 |
| 22 Mar after | 43.1 °C | 8 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 23 Mar after | 42.7 °C | 7 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 24 Mar after | 42.9 °C | 12 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
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 · 497Every 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 Fangak fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 February 2019 and 14 March 2019: 15 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 10,803 hectares (108.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Fangak (8,561 ha, 1.1 %); Ayod (2,309 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 42.0 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 74, class Very extreme.
- 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.