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Koch fire, 15 December 2018 Koch, Tonj North

Out · last detection 31 Dec 2018, 23:55 UTC

The fire started on 15 December 2018 in Koch, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,009 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 53th largest in Unity since 2016 (of 85 with a page). Number 77 in South Sudan in 2018, of 120.

Burnt area
6,009ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
15 Dec 2018 – 30 Dec 2018
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
15 Dec
2018
Heat detections
405
in a single hotspot: 232 MW
Danger at start
43
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
4.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

31 Dec 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Dec30 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

1516171819202122232425262728293031

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
38km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

It had gone 40 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

45% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,711 ha in 2016, 56 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Koch where it started
    4,498 ha reached on 11 Dec
    1.0 %
  2. Tonj North
    1,550 ha reached on 11 Dec
    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)
15 Dec 37.0 °C 22 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
16 Dec 37.9 °C 20 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Dec 38.4 °C 15 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
18 Dec 36.6 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
19 Dec 36.6 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
20 Dec 36.2 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
21 Dec 35.7 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 Dec 35.1 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
23 Dec 35.4 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
24 Dec 35.7 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
25 Dec 37.0 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
26 Dec 37.5 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
27 Dec 38.1 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
28 Dec 37.0 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
29 Dec 37.4 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
30 Dec 35.7 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
31 Dec after 36.1 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
1 Jan after 37.1 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
2 Jan after 38.3 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
3 Jan after 37.4 °C 15 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
4 Jan after 38.2 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
5 Jan after 38.2 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
6 Jan after 38.1 °C 16 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
7 Jan after 36.6 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
8 Jan after 36.3 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
9 Jan after 36.1 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Dec 2018
After · 6 Jan 2019

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 · 405Every 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 South Sudan ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Koch fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 December 2018 and 30 December 2018: 16 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 6,009 hectares (60.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Koch (4,498 ha, 1.0 %); Tonj North (1,550 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.4 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of South 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.

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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.