Jore fire, 19 January 2019 Jore
The fire started on 19 January 2019 in Jore, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 14,232 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 34th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 10 in Ethiopia in 2019, of 220.
- Burnt area
- 14,232ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 16days
- 19 Jan 2019 – 3 Feb 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 19 Jan
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 443
- in a single hotspot: 339 MW
- Danger at start
- 54
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 8.2GW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
93% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8,143 ha in 2016, 8,412 ha in 2017, 9,062 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 13,191 ha that had burned before.
- 5,872 ha Jore fire, December 2016 64,789 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,653 ha Jore fire, March 2018 33,633 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,428 ha Jore fire, February 2016 14,297 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,831 ha Jore fire, March 2018 7,103 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,409 ha Jore fire, March 2016 4,278 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 948 ha Jore fire, February 2017 3,416 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 817 ha Jore fire, January 2017 9,110 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 511 ha Jore fire, April 2018 2,486 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Jore where it started14,327 ha reached on 20 Jan4.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Jan | 38.8 °C | 17 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 20 Jan | 39.1 °C | 13 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 21 Jan | 40.1 °C | 11 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 22 Jan | 40.3 °C | 14 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 23 Jan | 40.2 °C | 13 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 24 Jan | 40.1 °C | 14 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 25 Jan | 40.3 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 26 Jan | 40.4 °C | 15 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 27 Jan | 40.1 °C | 18 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 28 Jan | 40.8 °C | 18 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 29 Jan | 39.9 °C | 23 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 30 Jan | 39.0 °C | 18 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 31 Jan | 39.1 °C | 17 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 1 Feb | 40.0 °C | 18 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 2 Feb | 39.8 °C | 18 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 3 Feb | 40.6 °C | 15 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 4 Feb after | 40.2 °C | 15 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 5 Feb after | 41.6 °C | 16 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 6 Feb after | 40.5 °C | 15 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 7 Feb after | 41.6 °C | 15 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 8 Feb after | 40.8 °C | 19 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 9 Feb after | 39.7 °C | 16 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 10 Feb after | 39.6 °C | 17 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 11 Feb after | 38.6 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 12 Feb after | 39.8 °C | 18 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 13 Feb after | 39.1 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 14 Feb after | 37.4 °C | 17 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 15 Feb after | 40.6 °C | 11 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 16 Feb after | 39.5 °C | 13 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 17 Feb after | 39.9 °C | 12 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 18 Feb after | 38.5 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 19 Feb after | 39.3 °C | 12 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
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 · 443Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 33,633 haJore6 March 2018 · 18 days · 16 km away
- 49,326 haJikawo9 February 2026 · 36 days · 22 km away
- 25,208 haJikawo21 February 2025 · 25 days · 24 km away
- 47,727 haJore2 February 2021 · 36 days · 27 km away
- 201,499 haJoreJanuary 2022 · 78 days · 29 km away
- 76,225 haJoreFebruary 2026 · 35 days · 30 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Jore fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 January 2019 and 3 February 2019: 16 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 14,232 hectares (142.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Jore (14,327 ha, 4.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 41.6 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 64, 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.