Ibba fire, 14 December 2018 Ibba, Maridi
The fire started on 14 December 2018 in Ibba, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 25 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 57,809 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 22th largest in Western Equatoria since 2016 (of 361 with a page). Number 5 in South Sudan in 2018, of 120.
- Burnt area
- 57,809ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 25days
- 14 Dec 2018 – 7 Jan 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- counties
- Started on
- 14 Dec
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 2,228
- in a single hotspot: 220 MW
- Danger at start
- 29
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 18.7GW
- sum of detected power
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 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 34,367 ha in 2016, 25,482 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 44,120 ha that had burned before.
- 9,893 ha Ibba fire, December 2017 21,208 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,470 ha Ibba fire, December 2017 50,268 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,405 ha Ibba fire, January 2016 15,445 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,465 ha Ibba fire, December 2016 25,731 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,223 ha Maridi fire, December 2016 6,130 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,786 ha Maridi fire, December 2016 7,354 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,677 ha Ibba fire, December 2016 5,987 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Ibba where it started46,443 ha reached on 7 Dec4.8 %
-
11,784 ha reached on 13 Dec1.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Dec | 33.8 °C | 30 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 15 Dec | 34.7 °C | 31 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 16 Dec | 34.1 °C | 33 % | 27 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 30 |
| 17 Dec | 35.7 °C | 25 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 18 Dec | 34.9 °C | 18 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 19 Dec | 34.9 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 20 Dec | 34.7 °C | 20 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 21 Dec | 34.4 °C | 21 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 22 Dec | 34.7 °C | 21 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 23 Dec | 34.9 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 24 Dec | 34.5 °C | 19 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 25 Dec | 35.6 °C | 21 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 26 Dec | 36.1 °C | 20 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 27 Dec | 36.9 °C | 18 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 28 Dec | 35.5 °C | 22 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 29 Dec | 35.7 °C | 22 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 30 Dec | 33.8 °C | 25 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 31 Dec | 33.7 °C | 28 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 1 Jan | 33.9 °C | 29 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 2 Jan | 34.8 °C | 27 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 3 Jan | 36.8 °C | 18 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 4 Jan | 36.2 °C | 15 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 5 Jan | 35.5 °C | 28 % | 34 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 39 |
| 6 Jan | 35.7 °C | 27 % | 31 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 40 |
| 7 Jan | 36.0 °C | 19 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 8 Jan after | 35.4 °C | 15 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 9 Jan after | 35.8 °C | 18 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 10 Jan after | 36.4 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 11 Jan after | 37.3 °C | 18 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 12 Jan after | 37.3 °C | 17 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 13 Jan after | 37.8 °C | 15 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 14 Jan after | 36.3 °C | 20 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 15 Jan after | 35.5 °C | 30 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 16 Jan after | 35.7 °C | 24 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 17 Jan after | 35.8 °C | 23 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
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 · 2,228Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 72,650 haIbba25 December 2025 · 26 days · 7 km away
- 50,268 haIbba14 December 2017 · 27 days · 22 km away
- 25,731 haIbba25 December 2016 · 18 days · 26 km away
- 99,647 haIbba15 December 2025 · 38 days · 34 km away
- 32,173 haYambioDecember 2025 · 19 days · 39 km away
- 135,559 haYambio6 December 2016 · 31 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ibba fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 December 2018 and 7 January 2019: 25 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 57,809 hectares (578.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ibba (46,443 ha, 4.8 %); Maridi (11,784 ha, 1.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, 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
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
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.