Gummi fire, November 2021 Gummi, Bukkuyum, Wasagu-Danko
The fire started on 24 November 2021 in Gummi, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 27 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 16,638 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 2th largest in Zamfara since 2016 (of 210 with a page). Number 2 in Nigeria in 2021, of 179.
Compare with…
Suggestions: Gummi · 2020Gummi · 2016Gummi · 2018Gummi · 2020
- Burnt area
- 16,638ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 27days
- 24 Nov 2021 – 20 Dec 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- local government areas
- Started on
- 24 Nov
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 606
- in a single hotspot: 39 MW
- Danger at start
- 42
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 107MW
- 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 31 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
67% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,236 ha in 2016, 1,347 ha in 2017, 978 ha in 2018, 2,287 ha in 2019, 11,288 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 11,156 ha that had burned before.
- 5,322 ha Gummi fire, January 2020 13,736 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,461 ha Gummi fire, December 2016 3,959 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,286 ha Gummi fire, December 2018 3,419 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,257 ha Gummi fire, December 2020 3,596 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
-
Gummi where it started15,260 ha reached on 24 Nov5.2 %
-
1,412 ha reached on 3 Dec0.4 %
-
57 ha reached on 12 Dec0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Nov | 37.5 °C | 19 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 25 Nov | 37.5 °C | 19 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 26 Nov | 36.7 °C | 16 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 27 Nov | 36.7 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 28 Nov | 36.8 °C | 19 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 29 Nov | 36.5 °C | 17 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 30 Nov | 36.6 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 1 Dec | 35.8 °C | 16 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 2 Dec | 35.6 °C | 19 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 3 Dec | 34.3 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 4 Dec | 34.6 °C | 16 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 5 Dec | 35.3 °C | 21 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 6 Dec | 35.6 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 7 Dec | 35.1 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 8 Dec | 33.2 °C | 16 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 9 Dec | 33.3 °C | 15 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 10 Dec | 33.8 °C | 16 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 11 Dec | 35.5 °C | 15 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 12 Dec | 35.0 °C | 15 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 13 Dec | 35.8 °C | 16 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 14 Dec | 34.8 °C | 14 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 15 Dec | 32.5 °C | 16 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 16 Dec | 32.4 °C | 17 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 17 Dec | 31.2 °C | 17 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 18 Dec | 30.5 °C | 19 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 19 Dec | 30.0 °C | 20 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 20 Dec | 31.1 °C | 18 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 21 Dec after | 31.1 °C | 18 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 22 Dec after | 33.1 °C | 19 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 23 Dec after | 33.0 °C | 15 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 24 Dec after | 33.8 °C | 16 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 25 Dec after | 34.4 °C | 16 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 26 Dec after | 34.7 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 27 Dec after | 32.8 °C | 15 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 28 Dec after | 32.0 °C | 14 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 29 Dec after | 32.4 °C | 14 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 30 Dec after | 32.3 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
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 · 606Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 12,887 haGummiNovember 2022 · 21 days · 3 km away
- 13,736 haGummi19 January 2020 · 22 days · 7 km away
- 6,295 haGummi28 November 2025 · 14 days · 7 km away
- 7,394 haGummi15 November 2025 · 5 days · 8 km away
- 5,926 haGummiJanuary 2021 · 18 days · 9 km away
- 6,047 haWasagu-Danko26 December 2025 · 15 days · 12 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Gummi fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 24 November 2021 to 20 December 2021 (27 days). The perimeter dates it from 1 December 2021 to 13 December 2021.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 16,638 hectares (166.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Gummi (15,260 ha, 5.2 %); Bukkuyum (1,412 ha, 0.4 %); Wasagu-Danko (57 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.5 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, class Extreme.
- 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.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 1 December 2021 to 13 December 2021. 606 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.