Idanre fire, January 2021 Idanre
The fire started on 17 January 2021 in Idanre, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,969 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 14th largest in Ondo since 2016 (of 23 with a page). Number 99 in Nigeria in 2021, of 184.
- Burnt area
- 2,969ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 17 Jan 2021 – 24 Jan 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- local government areas
- Started on
- 17 Jan
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 131
- in a single hotspot: 73 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 957MW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,482 ha in 2016, 1,043 ha in 2017, 2,043 ha in 2018, 2,736 ha in 2019, 2,582 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,982 ha that had burned before.
- 2,736 ha Idanre fire, February 2019 11,751 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,582 ha Owo fire, January 2020 20,771 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,269 ha Idanre fire, January 2016 28,739 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,213 ha Idanre fire, February 2016 6,345 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,043 ha Ose fire, February 2017 12,653 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 900 ha Idanre fire, January 2018 3,218 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 674 ha Idanre fire, January 2018 2,546 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Idanre where it started2,988 ha reached on 11 Jan1.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Jan | 33.9 °C | 41 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 18 Jan | 34.2 °C | 34 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 19 Jan | 35.7 °C | 31 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 20 Jan | 33.9 °C | 32 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 21 Jan | 35.1 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 22 Jan | 34.2 °C | 25 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 23 Jan | 34.9 °C | 17 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 24 Jan | 35.9 °C | 20 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 25 Jan after | 34.8 °C | 33 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 26 Jan after | 36.1 °C | 30 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 27 Jan after | 35.5 °C | 32 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 28 Jan after | 35.3 °C | 38 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Jan after | 37.5 °C | 23 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 30 Jan after | 36.7 °C | 21 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 31 Jan after | 36.7 °C | 24 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 1 Feb after | 37.5 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 2 Feb after | 36.8 °C | 30 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 3 Feb after | 35.7 °C | 41 % | 28 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 32 |
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 · 131Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 11,751 haIdanreFebruary 2019 · 12 days · 1 km away
- 28,739 haIdanre20 January 2016 · 15 days · 2 km away
- 20,771 haOwo18 January 2020 · 29 days · 3 km away
- 15,831 haIdanre16 January 2022 · 18 days · 5 km away
- 6,345 haIdanreFebruary 2016 · 6 days · 6 km away
- 12,653 haOse14 February 2017 · 9 days · 8 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Idanre fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 January 2021 and 24 January 2021: 8 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 2,969 hectares (29.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Idanre (2,988 ha, 1.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, class High.
- 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
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 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.