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Labwor fire, 18 December 2017 Labwor, Agago, Otuke

Out · last detection 24 Dec 2017, 10:52 UTC

The fire started on 18 December 2017 in Labwor, Uganda, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,732 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 147th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 1377 with a page). Number 34 in Uganda in 2017, of 244.

Burnt area
2,732ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
18 Dec 2017 – 24 Dec 2017
Municipalities hit
3
counties
Started on
18 Dec
2017
Heat detections
73
in a single hotspot: 71 MW
Danger at start
31
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Dec 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Dec24 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

18192021222324

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

The weather it burned in

32°high
53km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone 22 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. Labwor where it started
    2,198 ha reached on 18 Dec
    1.1 %
  2. Agago
    328 ha reached on 19 Dec
    0.1 %
  3. Otuke
    223 ha reached on 18 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)
18 Dec 31.5 °C 31 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
19 Dec 31.8 °C 29 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 Dec 32.1 °C 23 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
21 Dec 32.3 °C 22 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
22 Dec 31.9 °C 21 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
23 Dec 31.3 °C 26 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Dec 31.9 °C 22 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Dec after 33.4 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Dec after 33.4 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Dec after 32.2 °C 23 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
28 Dec after 33.1 °C 23 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Dec after 32.4 °C 26 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
30 Dec after 32.7 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Dec after 31.9 °C 25 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
1 Jan after 30.3 °C 32 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
2 Jan after 30.9 °C 28 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
3 Jan after 31.3 °C 26 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 28

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 Dec 2017
After · 31 Dec 2017

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 · 73Every 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

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Labwor fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 December 2017 and 24 December 2017: 7 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 2,732 hectares (27.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Labwor (2,198 ha, 1.1 %); Agago (328 ha, 0.1 %); Otuke (223 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.3 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, class 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.