Jore fire, 22 May 2021 Jore
The fire started on 22 May 2021 in Jore, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,448 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 241th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 106 in Ethiopia in 2021, of 255.
- Burnt area
- 3,448ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 22 May 2021 – 1 Jun 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 22 May
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 114
- in a single hotspot: 41 MW
- Danger at start
- 18
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.1GW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.9 mm on 3 Jun.
This area had burned before
95% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,138 ha in 2016, 997 ha in 2017, 3,417 ha in 2018, 1,412 ha in 2019, 401 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,280 ha that had burned before.
- 1,548 ha Jore fire, March 2018 33,633 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,220 ha Jore fire, April 2018 2,486 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 997 ha Jore fire, December 2016 64,789 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 689 ha Jore fire, January 2019 14,232 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 626 ha Jore fire, March 2018 7,103 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 27 ha Jore fire, February 2016 14,297 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Jore where it started3,471 ha reached on 22 May1.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 May | 36.0 °C | 35 % | 33 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 23 May | 36.0 °C | 31 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 24 May | 35.4 °C | 39 % | 41 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 24 |
| 25 May | 35.8 °C | 35 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 26 May | 37.0 °C | 33 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 27 May | 36.2 °C | 27 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 28 May | 35.2 °C | 32 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 29 May | 37.2 °C | 26 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 30 May | 37.5 °C | 25 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 31 May | 38.5 °C | 26 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Jun | 39.0 °C | 25 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 2 Jun after | 37.6 °C | 26 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 3 Jun after | 35.6 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 3.9 mm | Moderate 13 |
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 · 114Every 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 · 19 km away
- 47,727 haJore2 February 2021 · 36 days · 21 km away
- 49,326 haJikawo9 February 2026 · 36 days · 25 km away
- 201,499 haJoreJanuary 2022 · 78 days · 27 km away
- 76,225 haJoreFebruary 2026 · 35 days · 27 km away
- 25,208 haJikawo21 February 2025 · 25 days · 29 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Jore fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 May 2021 and 1 June 2021: 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 3,448 hectares (34.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Jore (3,471 ha, 1.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.0 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 43 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.