Lamwo fire, 2 January 2017 Lamwo
The fire started on 2 January 2017 in Lamwo, Uganda, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,032 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 119th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 1377 with a page). Number 26 in Uganda in 2017, of 244.
- Burnt area
- 3,032ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 2 Jan 2017 – 7 Jan 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- counties
- Started on
- 2 Jan
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 95
- in a single hotspot: 123 MW
- Danger at start
- 37
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.0GW
- 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 29 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
25% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 873 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 758 ha that had burned before.
- 550 ha Lamwo fire, February 2016 1,054 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 202 ha Lamwo fire, January 2016 1,364 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 121 ha Lamwo fire, January 2016 1,519 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Lamwo where it started3,052 ha reached on 2 Jan0.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Jan | 36.3 °C | 14 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 3 Jan | 36.1 °C | 14 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 4 Jan | 36.0 °C | 13 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 5 Jan | 36.1 °C | 10 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 6 Jan | 36.2 °C | 8 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 7 Jan | 36.7 °C | 9 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 8 Jan after | 36.2 °C | 13 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 9 Jan after | 35.4 °C | 13 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 10 Jan after | 35.8 °C | 12 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 11 Jan after | 36.1 °C | 11 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 12 Jan after | 35.5 °C | 13 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 13 Jan after | 36.1 °C | 11 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 14 Jan after | 36.5 °C | 10 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 15 Jan after | 37.1 °C | 10 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 16 Jan after | 37.5 °C | 9 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 17 Jan after | 37.3 °C | 10 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
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 · 95Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Lamwo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 January 2017 and 7 January 2017: 6 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 3,032 hectares (30.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Lamwo (3,052 ha, 0.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.7 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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
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.