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Jore fire, 21 December 2016 Jore, Gog

Out · last detection 1 Feb 2017, 23:42 UTC

The fire started on 21 December 2016 in Jore, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 42 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 64,789 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 4th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 2 in Ethiopia in 2016, of 309.

Burnt area
64,789ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
42days
21 Dec 2016 – 31 Jan 2017
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
21 Dec
2016
Heat detections
3,086
in a single hotspot: 220 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Energy released
42.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

1 Feb 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Dec31 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

2122232425262728293031123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930311

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

41°high
37km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 27 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

33% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 22,136 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Jore where it started
    62,524 ha reached on 21 Dec
    18 %
  2. Gog
    2,674 ha reached on 21 Dec
    0.8 %

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)
21 Dec 37.0 °C 26 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Dec 36.8 °C 29 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
23 Dec 37.4 °C 26 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
24 Dec 38.2 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
25 Dec 38.2 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Dec 36.5 °C 26 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Dec 36.6 °C 24 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Dec 37.5 °C 22 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Dec 39.1 °C 17 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
30 Dec 39.3 °C 18 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
31 Dec 38.1 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Jan 37.5 °C 21 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Jan 38.9 °C 17 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
3 Jan 38.5 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
4 Jan 38.2 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
5 Jan 37.9 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Jan 38.1 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
7 Jan 38.5 °C 15 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Jan 39.2 °C 11 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
9 Jan 39.3 °C 10 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
10 Jan 38.7 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
11 Jan 39.0 °C 12 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
12 Jan 38.7 °C 10 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
13 Jan 39.4 °C 12 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
14 Jan 39.9 °C 11 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
15 Jan 40.3 °C 11 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
16 Jan 40.6 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
17 Jan 39.4 °C 14 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
18 Jan 39.3 °C 13 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
19 Jan 39.9 °C 12 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
20 Jan 39.1 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
21 Jan 40.0 °C 13 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 Jan 40.3 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
23 Jan 40.5 °C 16 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
24 Jan 40.3 °C 15 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
25 Jan 39.6 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
26 Jan 39.3 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
27 Jan 40.7 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
28 Jan 40.3 °C 14 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
29 Jan 39.8 °C 18 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
30 Jan 38.8 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
31 Jan 39.7 °C 17 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
1 Feb after 39.6 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
2 Feb after 38.2 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
3 Feb after 38.5 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
4 Feb after 38.7 °C 20 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
5 Feb after 39.6 °C 19 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Feb after 39.7 °C 20 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
7 Feb after 39.1 °C 22 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
8 Feb after 41.0 °C 19 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
9 Feb after 39.4 °C 22 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
10 Feb after 41.1 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Extreme 52
11 Feb after 41.0 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
12 Feb after 41.1 °C 18 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
13 Feb after 40.3 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm Extreme 51
14 Feb after 35.4 °C 27 % 24 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 42
15 Feb after 38.7 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.8 mm Very high 43
16 Feb after 39.4 °C 18 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 14 Dec 2016
After · 7 Feb 2017

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 · 3,086Every 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 Ethiopia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Jore fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 December 2016 and 31 January 2017: 42 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 64,789 hectares (647.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Jore (62,524 ha, 18 %); Gog (2,674 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 40.7 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, class Extreme.
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.

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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 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.