How long did the Ibba fire last?

GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 10 December 2016 and 1 January 2017: 23 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 36,476 hectares (364.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yambio (31,716 ha, 3.6 %); Ibba (5,012 ha, 0.5 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very 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.

SS · South Sudan · 2016-12-10 → 2017-01-01

Ibba fire, 10 December 2016 Yambio, Ibba

Out · last detection 1 Jan 2017, 23:25 UTC

The fire started on 10 December 2016 in Ibba, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 23 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 36,476 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 25th largest in Western Equatoria since 2016 (of 361 with a page). Number 13 in South Sudan in 2016, of 244.

Burnt area: 36,476ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 23days; 10 Dec 2016 – 1 Jan 2017
Municipalities hit: 2; counties
Started on: 10 Dec; 2016
Heat detections: 1,595; in a single hotspot: 266 MW
Danger at start: 19; Moderate · FWI index
Energy released: 17.8GW; sum of detected power

Play back 1 Jan 2017

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Dec1 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

101112131415161718192021222324252627282930311

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

The weather it burned in

36°high

46km/h · peak gust

16%lowest humidity

It had gone 11 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

Yambio

31,716 ha reached on 6 Dec

3.6 %
Ibba where it started

5,012 ha reached on 5 Dec

0.5 %

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)
5 Dec	34.5 °C	26 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
6 Dec	35.6 °C	18 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
7 Dec	31.5 °C	43 %	28 km/h	2.5 mm	Low 6
8 Dec	33.9 °C	25 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
9 Dec	34.2 °C	27 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
10 Dec	34.4 °C	25 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
11 Dec	32.5 °C	32 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
12 Dec	32.9 °C	35 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
13 Dec	33.0 °C	38 %	30 km/h	0.4 mm	Moderate 20
14 Dec	32.1 °C	39 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
15 Dec	30.6 °C	47 %	27 km/h	0.7 mm	Moderate 14
16 Dec	32.9 °C	34 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
17 Dec	34.1 °C	23 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
18 Dec	33.7 °C	21 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
19 Dec	34.7 °C	23 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
20 Dec	34.5 °C	24 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
21 Dec	34.5 °C	24 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
22 Dec	34.6 °C	28 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
23 Dec	35.2 °C	25 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
24 Dec	35.9 °C	22 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
25 Dec	35.5 °C	25 %	43 km/h	0.2 mm	High 36
26 Dec	34.8 °C	24 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
27 Dec	34.5 °C	24 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
28 Dec	34.4 °C	22 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
29 Dec	35.4 °C	20 %	21 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
30 Dec	35.5 °C	21 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
31 Dec	36.1 °C	16 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
1 Jan	36.4 °C	17 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
2 Jan after	34.5 °C	23 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
3 Jan after	35.4 °C	19 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
4 Jan after	35.5 °C	18 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
5 Jan after	35.3 °C	17 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
6 Jan after	36.4 °C	14 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
7 Jan after	36.9 °C	13 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
8 Jan after	37.4 °C	11 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
9 Jan after	35.8 °C	13 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
10 Jan after	36.0 °C	13 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
11 Jan after	36.9 °C	12 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 3 Dec 2016

After · 8 Jan 2017

Before After

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 · 1,595Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in South Sudan ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ibba fire last?: GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 10 December 2016 and 1 January 2017: 23 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 36,476 hectares (364.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yambio (31,716 ha, 3.6 %); Ibba (5,012 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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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.

Where it burned