Gog fire, March 2019 Gog
The fire started on 17 March 2019 in Gog, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,099 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 292th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 103 in Ethiopia in 2019, of 220.
- Burnt area
- 3,099ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 17 Mar 2019 – 20 Mar 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 17 Mar
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 79
- in a single hotspot: 102 MW
- Danger at start
- 46
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.1GW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.0 mm on 28 Mar.
This area had burned before
44% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 15 ha in 2016, 1,352 ha in 2017.
What happened to each town
-
Gog where it started3,120 ha reached on 15 Mar1.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Mar | 41.3 °C | 15 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 18 Mar | 40.6 °C | 13 % | 37 km/h | 1.6 mm | Very high 45 |
| 19 Mar | 38.8 °C | 24 % | 21 km/h | 0.1 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 20 Mar | 40.2 °C | 19 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 21 Mar after | 41.7 °C | 15 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 22 Mar after | 42.1 °C | 17 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 23 Mar after | 42.5 °C | 17 % | 33 km/h | 0.3 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 24 Mar after | 41.7 °C | 17 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 25 Mar after | 40.6 °C | 22 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 26 Mar after | 38.5 °C | 26 % | 23 km/h | 0.4 mm | Very high 39 |
| 27 Mar after | 39.6 °C | 22 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 28 Mar after | 39.4 °C | 25 % | 36 km/h | 3.0 mm | High 30 |
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 · 79Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 64,789 haJore21 December 2016 · 42 days · 15 km away
- 47,727 haJore2 February 2021 · 36 days · 20 km away
- 76,225 haJoreFebruary 2026 · 35 days · 23 km away
- 30,249 haJore27 December 2016 · 23 days · 26 km away
- 201,499 haJoreJanuary 2022 · 78 days · 27 km away
- 23,559 haJore4 January 2019 · 21 days · 29 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Gog fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 March 2019 and 20 March 2019: 4 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 3,099 hectares (31.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Gog (3,120 ha, 1.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 41.3 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 37 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.