Itang fire, 2 January 2026 Itang, Abobo
The fire started on 2 January 2026 in Itang, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 10,013 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 52th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 10 in Ethiopia in 2026, of 190.
- Burnt area
- 10,013ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 14days
- 2 Jan 2026 – 15 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 2 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 189
- in a single hotspot: 124 MW
- Danger at start
- 36
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.2GW
- 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 56 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
91% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,160 ha in 2016, 1,438 ha in 2017, 4,271 ha in 2018, 3,787 ha in 2020, 6,288 ha in 2021, 1,078 ha in 2022, 1,402 ha in 2023, 1,169 ha in 2024, 651 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 9,081 ha that had burned before.
- 4,596 ha Abobo fire, February 2021 6,637 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,469 ha Itang fire, February 2020 3,038 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,065 ha Itang fire, January 2018 3,549 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 744 ha Itang fire, December 2016 3,928 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 516 ha Abobo fire, January 2025 2,903 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 28 ha Abobo fire, January 2017 5,880 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 14 ha Abobo fire, March 2024 2,110 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Itang where it started7,876 ha reached on 2 Jan3.6 %
-
2,197 ha reached on 2 Jan0.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Jan | 34.0 °C | 26 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 3 Jan | 36.8 °C | 25 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 4 Jan | 37.0 °C | 22 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 5 Jan | 37.0 °C | 19 % | 15 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 6 Jan | 37.2 °C | 25 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 7 Jan | 37.3 °C | 27 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 8 Jan | 38.2 °C | 17 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 9 Jan | 38.0 °C | 21 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 10 Jan | 37.0 °C | 20 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 11 Jan | 37.5 °C | 25 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 12 Jan | 37.5 °C | 23 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 13 Jan | 37.0 °C | 23 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 14 Jan | 36.8 °C | 22 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 15 Jan | 36.9 °C | 24 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 16 Jan after | 35.6 °C | 24 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 17 Jan after | 36.5 °C | 23 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 18 Jan after | 38.0 °C | 23 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 19 Jan after | 37.8 °C | 22 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 20 Jan after | 38.5 °C | 24 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 21 Jan after | 38.6 °C | 25 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 22 Jan after | 38.0 °C | 22 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 23 Jan after | 38.7 °C | 18 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 24 Jan after | 40.0 °C | 16 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 25 Jan after | 40.7 °C | 15 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 11 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 71 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 58: 3.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 189Every 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 Itang fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 January 2026 and 15 January 2026: 14 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 10,013 hectares (100.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Itang (7,876 ha, 3.6 %); Abobo (2,197 ha, 0.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.2 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 28 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 Ethiopia (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 ADM3 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.