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Jore fire, 27 December 2016 Gog, Jore

Out · last detection 19 Jan 2017, 22:46 UTC

The fire started on 27 December 2016 in Jore, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 23 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 30,249 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 10th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 4 in Ethiopia in 2016, of 309.

Burnt area
30,249ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
23days
27 Dec 2016 – 18 Jan 2017
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
27 Dec
2016
Heat detections
1,610
in a single hotspot: 280 MW
Danger at start
38
High · FWI index
Energy released
19.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

19 Jan 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Dec18 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

272829303112345678910111213141516171819

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
42km/h · peak gust
8%lowest humidity

It had gone 30 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

5% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,455 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Gog
    11,464 ha reached on 21 Dec
    3.5 %
  2. Jore where it started
    6,593 ha reached on 21 Dec
    1.9 %

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 36.8 °C 26 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
22 Dec 36.5 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
23 Dec 37.0 °C 27 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
24 Dec 38.0 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
25 Dec 37.9 °C 26 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Dec 36.1 °C 26 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
27 Dec 36.3 °C 24 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Dec 37.1 °C 22 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
29 Dec 38.9 °C 17 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 Dec 38.9 °C 18 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
31 Dec 38.0 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Jan 37.1 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
2 Jan 38.7 °C 17 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
3 Jan 38.4 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 Jan 38.0 °C 16 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
5 Jan 37.7 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Jan 38.0 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
7 Jan 38.4 °C 15 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
8 Jan 39.1 °C 11 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
9 Jan 39.4 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
10 Jan 38.6 °C 10 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
11 Jan 39.1 °C 13 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
12 Jan 38.7 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
13 Jan 39.5 °C 12 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
14 Jan 40.0 °C 8 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
15 Jan 40.6 °C 10 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
16 Jan 40.7 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
17 Jan 39.6 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
18 Jan 39.5 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
19 Jan after 40.0 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
20 Jan after 39.4 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
21 Jan after 40.2 °C 10 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
22 Jan after 40.7 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
23 Jan after 40.8 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
24 Jan after 40.4 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
25 Jan after 40.0 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
26 Jan after 39.5 °C 17 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
27 Jan after 40.9 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
28 Jan after 40.7 °C 12 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
29 Jan after 40.0 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
30 Jan after 39.3 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
31 Jan after 40.1 °C 13 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
1 Feb after 39.8 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
2 Feb after 38.2 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
3 Feb after 38.8 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
4 Feb after 38.9 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 20 Dec 2016
After · 25 Jan 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 · 1,610Every 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 27 December 2016 and 18 January 2017: 23 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 30,249 hectares (302.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Gog (11,464 ha, 3.5 %); Jore (6,593 ha, 1.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 40.8 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 67, 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.