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Kilak fire, 22 January 2016 East Moyo, Kilak

Out · last detection 30 Jan 2016, 11:06 UTC

The fire started on 22 January 2016 in Kilak, Uganda, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,504 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 77th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 1377 with a page). Number 14 in Uganda in 2016, of 269.

Burnt area
3,504ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
22 Jan 2016 – 29 Jan 2016
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
22 Jan
2016
Heat detections
142
in a single hotspot: 35 MW
Danger at start
21
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
701MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

30 Jan 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Jan29 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

2223252627282930

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

The weather it burned in

33°high
42km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 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. East Moyo
    1,802 ha reached on 23 Jan
    0.6 %
  2. Kilak where it started
    1,725 ha reached on 20 Jan
    0.4 %

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 Jan 31.7 °C 32 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 21
23 Jan 33.3 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
24 Jan 32.4 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
25 Jan 32.7 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
26 Jan 31.7 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Jan 30.2 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Jan 30.0 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Jan 30.6 °C 14 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
30 Jan after 31.5 °C 16 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Jan after 33.3 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
1 Feb after 33.4 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
2 Feb after 33.5 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
3 Feb after 34.2 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
4 Feb after 35.3 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Feb after 36.0 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
6 Feb after 36.3 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
7 Feb after 35.9 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Feb after 34.7 °C 13 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 15 Jan 2016
After · 5 Feb 2016

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 · 142Every 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 Uganda ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kilak fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 January 2016 and 29 January 2016: 8 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 3,504 hectares (35.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: East Moyo (1,802 ha, 0.6 %); Kilak (1,725 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.3 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Uganda (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.

Emergency number: 999 · 112

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. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 999 · 112.

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 (Public Domain). 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.