Skip to content
worldfires
SD · Sudan · →

Kelemando fire, 12 October 2018 Kelemando, Um Kadadah

Out · last detection 12 Oct 2018, 23:54 UTC

The fire started on 12 October 2018 in Kelemando, Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,913 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 60th largest in North Darfur since 2016 (of 140 with a page). Number 14 in Sudan in 2018, of 38.

The power measured by the satellite is low (19.2 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
2,913ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
2days
12 Oct 2018 – 13 Oct 2018
Municipalities hit
2
localities
Started on
12 Oct
2018
Heat detections
72
in a single hotspot: 19 MW
Danger at start
65
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
480MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Oct13 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

12

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

35°high
49km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 15 days 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

  1. Kelemando where it started
    2,042 ha reached on 12 Oct
    0.3 %
  2. Um Kadadah
    893 ha reached on 12 Oct
    0.1 %

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)
12 Oct 35.4 °C 11 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
13 Oct 34.8 °C 10 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
14 Oct after 33.9 °C 8 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
15 Oct after 33.7 °C 9 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
16 Oct after 35.2 °C 12 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
17 Oct after 35.4 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
18 Oct after 34.7 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
19 Oct after 34.4 °C 11 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
20 Oct after 34.3 °C 11 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
21 Oct after 35.7 °C 12 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
22 Oct after 34.6 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
23 Oct after 36.5 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 5 Oct 2018
After · 20 Oct 2018

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.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Sudan ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kelemando fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 October 2018 and 13 October 2018: 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 2,913 hectares (29.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kelemando (2,042 ha, 0.3 %); Um Kadadah (893 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.4 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 65, class 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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

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.