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Ibba fire, 6 December 2016 Ibba, Yambio

Out · last detection 22 Dec 2016, 12:15 UTC

The fire started on 6 December 2016 in Ibba, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,977 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 277th largest in Western Equatoria since 2016 (of 361 with a page). Number 184 in South Sudan in 2016, of 244.

Burnt area
5,977ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
18days
6 Dec 2016 – 23 Dec 2016
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
6 Dec
2016
Heat detections
215
in a single hotspot: 297 MW
Danger at start
18
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
5.4GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 Dec 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Dec23 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

68910111213141516171819202122

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
44km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 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. Ibba where it started
    5,821 ha reached on 4 Dec
    0.6 %
  2. Yambio
    195 ha reached on 8 Dec
    0.0 %

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)
6 Dec 35.4 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
7 Dec 31.1 °C 47 % 28 km/h 6.5 mm Very low 1
8 Dec 33.8 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
9 Dec 34.7 °C 26 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
10 Dec 34.2 °C 27 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
11 Dec 32.3 °C 33 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
12 Dec 33.1 °C 36 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
13 Dec 33.5 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 16
14 Dec 32.5 °C 42 % 34 km/h 2.0 mm Low 6
15 Dec 30.4 °C 49 % 28 km/h 0.4 mm Low 9
16 Dec 32.6 °C 37 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
17 Dec 34.0 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
18 Dec 33.6 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
19 Dec 34.6 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
20 Dec 34.6 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
21 Dec 34.3 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
22 Dec 34.6 °C 28 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
23 Dec 35.1 °C 26 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
24 Dec after 35.9 °C 22 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
25 Dec after 35.6 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Dec after 34.5 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm High 28
27 Dec after 34.6 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
28 Dec after 34.3 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
29 Dec after 35.1 °C 21 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
30 Dec after 35.3 °C 22 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
31 Dec after 36.1 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
1 Jan after 36.4 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
2 Jan after 33.8 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 29 Nov 2016
After · 30 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 · 215Every 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 South Sudan ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ibba fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 December 2016 and 23 December 2016: 18 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 5,977 hectares (59.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ibba (5,821 ha, 0.6 %); Yambio (195 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.4 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, 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.

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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 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.