Kelemando fire, 8 April 2017 Kelemando, Um Kadadah
The fire started on 8 April 2017 in Kelemando, Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,341 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 42th largest in North Darfur since 2016 (of 140 with a page). Number 49 in Sudan in 2017, of 137.
The power measured by the satellite is low (19.0 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 3,341ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 8 Apr 2017 – 9 Apr 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- localities
- Started on
- 8 Apr
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 84
- in a single hotspot: 19 MW
- Danger at start
- 90
- Very extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 551MW
- 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
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Kelemando where it started3,119 ha reached on 8 Apr0.4 %
-
244 ha reached on 8 Apr0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Apr | 38.8 °C | 7 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 90 |
| 9 Apr | 38.9 °C | 7 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 86 |
| 10 Apr after | 39.0 °C | 6 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 11 Apr after | 39.8 °C | 10 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 12 Apr after | 40.2 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 13 Apr after | 39.7 °C | 19 % | 27 km/h | 0.1 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 14 Apr after | 38.7 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 15 Apr after | 31.2 °C | 17 % | 45 km/h | 0.1 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 16 Apr after | 33.7 °C | 18 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 17 Apr after | 32.0 °C | 8 % | 41 km/h | 0.8 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 18 Apr after | 34.4 °C | 5 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 82 |
| 19 Apr after | 36.0 °C | 5 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 80 |
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 · 84Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 4,600 haKelemando18 October 2025 · 2 days · 10 km away
- 3,156 haKelemandoOctober 2016 · 2 days · 27 km away
- 3,740 haUm KadadahNovember 2025 · 2 days · 30 km away
- 3,964 haUm Kadadah1 October 2025 · 1 day · 32 km away
- 2,913 haKelemando12 October 2018 · 2 days · 36 km away
- 3,907 haUm KadadahMarch 2021 · 2 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kelemando fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 April 2017 and 9 April 2017: 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 3,341 hectares (33.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kelemando (3,119 ha, 0.4 %); Um Kadadah (244 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.9 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 90, class Very extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Sudan (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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.