Ikom fire, December 2022 Ogoja, Ikom
The fire started on 30 December 2022 in Ikom, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,828 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 17th largest in Cross River since 2016 (of 37 with a page). Number 56 in Nigeria in 2022, of 125.
The power measured by the satellite is low (23.8 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 2,828ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 30 Dec 2022 – 4 Jan 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- local government areas
- Started on
- 30 Dec
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 102
- in a single hotspot: 24 MW
- Danger at start
- 44
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 416MW
- 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 47 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
83% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,392 ha in 2016, 277 ha in 2017, 957 ha in 2018, 519 ha in 2020, 1,747 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,339 ha that had burned before.
- 1,747 ha Ogoja fire, January 2021 3,337 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,126 ha Ogoja fire, January 2016 2,115 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 36 ha Ogoja fire, January 2017 2,804 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
2,753 ha reached on 29 Dec3.0 %
-
Ikom where it started93 ha reached on 27 Dec0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Dec | 34.4 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 31 Dec | 34.5 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 1 Jan | 35.0 °C | 21 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 2 Jan | 33.8 °C | 21 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 3 Jan | 34.4 °C | 22 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 4 Jan | 35.2 °C | 23 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 5 Jan after | 34.5 °C | 26 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 6 Jan after | 34.0 °C | 24 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 7 Jan after | 36.1 °C | 22 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 8 Jan after | 35.5 °C | 23 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 9 Jan after | 35.9 °C | 17 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 10 Jan after | 35.5 °C | 18 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 11 Jan after | 34.8 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 12 Jan after | 35.0 °C | 17 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 13 Jan after | 36.1 °C | 17 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 14 Jan after | 35.4 °C | 17 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
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 · 102Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ikom fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 30 December 2022 and 4 January 2023: 6 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 2,828 hectares (28.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ogoja (2,753 ha, 3.0 %); Ikom (93 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.2 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, class Very 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.