Magwi fire, December 2018 Magwi, Juba
The fire started on 19 December 2018 in Magwi, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,746 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 57th largest in Eastern Equatoria since 2016 (of 80 with a page). Number 91 in South Sudan in 2018, of 120.
- Burnt area
- 5,746ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 19 Dec 2018 – 23 Dec 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- counties
- Started on
- 19 Dec
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 181
- in a single hotspot: 139 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.4GW
- 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 14 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.4 mm on 30 Dec.
This area had burned before
61% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 924 ha in 2016, 3,123 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,511 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Magwi where it started5,709 ha reached on 19 Dec1.1 %
-
76 ha reached on 21 Dec0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Dec | 33.9 °C | 28 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 20 Dec | 32.5 °C | 30 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 21 Dec | 32.9 °C | 26 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 22 Dec | 33.3 °C | 27 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 23 Dec | 32.9 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 24 Dec after | 33.1 °C | 30 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 25 Dec after | 35.1 °C | 21 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 26 Dec after | 35.6 °C | 21 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 27 Dec after | 35.1 °C | 24 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 28 Dec after | 33.8 °C | 28 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 29 Dec after | 32.8 °C | 35 % | 25 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 26 |
| 30 Dec after | 30.8 °C | 39 % | 28 km/h | 5.4 mm | Very low 5 |
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 · 181Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 6,201 haMagwi18 January 2020 · 9 days · 2 km away
- 5,518 haMagwi29 December 2017 · 5 days · 7 km away
- 6,627 haMagwiDecember 2016 · 4 days · 26 km away
- 5,281 haKajo-kejiDecember 2017 · 9 days · 28 km away
- 5,153 haKajo-kejiJanuary 2026 · 9 days · 34 km away
- 5,896 haJuba16 December 2025 · 4 days · 35 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Magwi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 December 2018 and 23 December 2018: 5 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 5,746 hectares (57.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Magwi (5,709 ha, 1.1 %); Juba (76 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.9 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, class High.
- 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.
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 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.