Jore fire, 8 February 2023 Jore
The fire started on 8 February 2023 in Jore, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,121 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 172th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 20 in Ethiopia in 2023, of 101.
- Burnt area
- 4,121ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 8 Feb 2023 – 9 Feb 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 8 Feb
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 72
- in a single hotspot: 68 MW
- Danger at start
- 52
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 640MW
- 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
71% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,510 ha in 2016, 6 ha in 2017, 1,473 ha in 2019, 1 ha in 2021, 1,061 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,936 ha that had burned before.
- 1,061 ha Jore fire, February 2022 2,387 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 882 ha Jore fire, December 2016 2,293 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 381 ha Jore fire, December 2016 30,249 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1 ha Jore fire, February 2021 3,481 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Jore where it started4,145 ha reached on 7 Feb1.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Feb | 38.4 °C | 12 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 9 Feb | 39.1 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 10 Feb after | 40.3 °C | 20 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 11 Feb after | 39.1 °C | 20 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 12 Feb after | 39.4 °C | 16 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 13 Feb after | 39.7 °C | 15 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 14 Feb after | 39.9 °C | 14 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 15 Feb after | 39.9 °C | 14 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 16 Feb after | 37.9 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 17 Feb after | 37.9 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 18 Feb after | 38.4 °C | 15 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 19 Feb after | 38.3 °C | 15 % | 33 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 · 72Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 30,249 haJore27 December 2016 · 23 days · 7 km away
- 64,789 haJore21 December 2016 · 42 days · 12 km away
- 76,225 haJoreFebruary 2026 · 35 days · 18 km away
- 201,499 haJoreJanuary 2022 · 78 days · 19 km away
- 23,559 haJore4 January 2019 · 21 days · 19 km away
- 47,727 haJore2 February 2021 · 36 days · 28 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Jore fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 February 2023 and 9 February 2023: 2 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 4,121 hectares (41.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Jore (4,145 ha, 1.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.1 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, 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.