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Ibba fire, 17 December 2016 Ibba, Yambio

Out · last detection 20 Dec 2016, 23:50 UTC

The fire started on 17 December 2016 in Ibba, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,671 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 222th largest in Western Equatoria since 2016 (of 361 with a page). Number 152 in South Sudan in 2016, of 244.

Burnt area
6,671ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
3days
17 Dec 2016 – 19 Dec 2016
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
17 Dec
2016
Heat detections
139
in a single hotspot: 75 MW
Danger at start
27
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

20 Dec 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Dec19 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

17181920

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
40km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone 9 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
    5,652 ha reached on 17 Dec
    0.6 %
  2. Yambio
    1,065 ha reached on 18 Dec
    0.1 %

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 Dec 34.1 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
18 Dec 33.6 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
19 Dec 34.6 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
20 Dec after 34.5 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
21 Dec after 34.4 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Dec after 34.6 °C 28 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Dec after 35.2 °C 25 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
24 Dec after 35.8 °C 22 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 Dec after 35.4 °C 25 % 43 km/h 0.2 mm High 35
26 Dec after 34.8 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Dec after 34.5 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Dec after 34.4 °C 22 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Dec after 35.4 °C 20 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 32

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 10 Dec 2016
After · 26 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 · 139Every 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 17 December 2016 and 19 December 2016: 3 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 6,671 hectares (66.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ibba (5,652 ha, 0.6 %); Yambio (1,065 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, 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.