Jore fire, 19 December 2018 Akobo, Wantawo, Jore
The fire started on 19 December 2018 in Jore, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 15,056 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 30th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 4 in Ethiopia in 2018, of 96.
- Burnt area
- 15,056ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 19 Dec 2018 – 29 Dec 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- districts
- Started on
- 19 Dec
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 508
- in a single hotspot: 200 MW
- Danger at start
- 38
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 8.7GW
- 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
54% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,909 ha in 2016, 8,766 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 8,073 ha that had burned before.
- 4,365 ha Wantawo fire, January 2017 7,235 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,555 ha Wantawo fire, February 2017 3,673 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,599 ha Akobo fire, January 2016 3,544 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,337 ha Akobo fire, January 2017 3,855 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
8,991 ha reached on 19 Dec4.2 %
-
5,834 ha reached on 18 Dec6.5 %
-
Jore where it started332 ha reached on 17 Dec0.1 %
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 Dec | 38.7 °C | 19 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 18 Dec | 37.8 °C | 19 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 19 Dec | 38.1 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 20 Dec | 38.2 °C | 20 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 21 Dec | 37.0 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 22 Dec | 37.6 °C | 22 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 23 Dec | 37.8 °C | 20 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 24 Dec | 37.5 °C | 22 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 25 Dec | 37.6 °C | 22 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 26 Dec | 37.5 °C | 23 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 27 Dec | 37.7 °C | 22 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 28 Dec | 37.3 °C | 21 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 29 Dec | 37.8 °C | 20 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 30 Dec after | 36.5 °C | 25 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 31 Dec after | 36.7 °C | 22 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 1 Jan after | 36.1 °C | 34 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 2 Jan after | 38.0 °C | 20 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 3 Jan after | 37.8 °C | 17 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 4 Jan after | 38.4 °C | 22 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 5 Jan after | 37.5 °C | 24 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 6 Jan after | 38.0 °C | 16 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 7 Jan after | 39.0 °C | 14 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 8 Jan after | 38.5 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 9 Jan after | 38.2 °C | 18 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 10 Jan after | 38.8 °C | 14 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 11 Jan after | 38.3 °C | 19 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 12 Jan after | 38.8 °C | 17 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 13 Jan after | 38.8 °C | 16 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 14 Jan after | 38.8 °C | 14 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 15 Jan after | 40.5 °C | 12 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
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 · 508Every 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 Jore fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 December 2018 and 29 December 2018: 11 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 15,056 hectares (150.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Akobo (8,991 ha, 4.2 %); Wantawo (5,834 ha, 6.5 %); Jore (332 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.7 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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.
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.