Lokoja fire, January 2017 Lokoja, Pategi
The fire started on 23 January 2017 in Lokoja, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,892 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 21th largest in Kogi since 2016 (of 48 with a page). Number 68 in Nigeria in 2017, of 143.
The power measured by the satellite is low (18.5 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
- 2,892ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 23 Jan 2017 – 29 Jan 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- local government areas
- Started on
- 23 Jan
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 105
- in a single hotspot: 18 MW
- Danger at start
- 38
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 586MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
34% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 986 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Lokoja where it started2,914 ha reached on 17 Jan0.9 %
-
0 ha reached on 2 Feb0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Jan | 38.7 °C | 23 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 24 Jan | 37.1 °C | 18 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 25 Jan | 36.8 °C | 10 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 26 Jan | 36.7 °C | 21 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 27 Jan | 37.4 °C | 24 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 28 Jan | 37.8 °C | 23 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 29 Jan | 37.2 °C | 24 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 30 Jan after | 36.5 °C | 32 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 31 Jan after | 37.2 °C | 26 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Feb after | 37.6 °C | 24 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 2 Feb after | 37.4 °C | 28 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 3 Feb after | 36.8 °C | 30 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 4 Feb after | 37.5 °C | 23 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 5 Feb after | 37.8 °C | 13 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 6 Feb after | 37.7 °C | 10 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 7 Feb after | 37.7 °C | 11 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 8 Feb after | 36.6 °C | 15 % | 20 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.
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 · 105Every 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 Lokoja fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 January 2017 and 29 January 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 2,892 hectares (28.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Lokoja (2,914 ha, 0.9 %); Pategi (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.7 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 47, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Nigeria (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: 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 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.