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Guangua fire, 16 December 2016 Guangua, Dibat

Out · last detection 24 Dec 2016, 11:38 UTC

The fire started on 16 December 2016 in Guangua, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,733 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 34th largest in Amhara since 2016 (of 171 with a page). Number 49 in Ethiopia in 2016, of 309.

The power measured by the satellite is low (28.4 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
5,733ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
16 Dec 2016 – 24 Dec 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
16 Dec
2016
Heat detections
140
in a single hotspot: 28 MW
Danger at start
29
High · FWI index
Energy released
620MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Dec 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Dec24 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

161718192021222324

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

35°high
35km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 53 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Guangua where it started
    3,954 ha reached on 12 Dec
    1.7 %
  2. Dibat
    1,811 ha reached on 16 Dec
    0.8 %

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)
16 Dec 33.0 °C 32 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
17 Dec 32.3 °C 35 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Dec 33.1 °C 33 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
19 Dec 32.2 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 Dec 33.3 °C 26 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
21 Dec 32.8 °C 33 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Dec 34.2 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
23 Dec 34.6 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
24 Dec 34.5 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Dec after 34.5 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Dec after 33.9 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
27 Dec after 33.0 °C 20 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
28 Dec after 34.4 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
29 Dec after 33.8 °C 26 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
30 Dec after 34.3 °C 26 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
31 Dec after 33.4 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
1 Jan after 33.6 °C 20 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
2 Jan after 33.8 °C 18 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
3 Jan after 34.5 °C 20 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 35

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 9 Dec 2016
After · 31 Dec 2016

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 · 140Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Ethiopia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Guangua fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 December 2016 and 24 December 2016: 9 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 5,733 hectares (57.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Guangua (3,954 ha, 1.7 %); Dibat (1,811 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, class High.
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.

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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.