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Maiwut fire, 19 December 2017 Maiwut, Longochuk

Out · last detection 25 Dec 2017, 23:11 UTC

The fire started on 19 December 2017 in Maiwut, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,487 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 237th largest in Upper Nile since 2016 (of 284 with a page). Number 170 in South Sudan in 2017, of 203.

Burnt area
5,487ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
19 Dec 2017 – 25 Dec 2017
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
19 Dec
2017
Heat detections
135
in a single hotspot: 47 MW
Danger at start
44
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
474MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Dec 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Dec25 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

202122232425

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

The weather it burned in

39°high
33km/h · peak gust
8%lowest humidity

It had gone 35 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

63% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,458 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Maiwut where it started
    4,849 ha reached on 20 Dec
    1.3 %
  2. Longochuk
    674 ha reached on 22 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)
19 Dec 37.1 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Dec 36.7 °C 20 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Dec 38.3 °C 17 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Dec 37.5 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
23 Dec 38.7 °C 12 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Dec 38.7 °C 11 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
25 Dec 39.3 °C 8 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
26 Dec after 38.9 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
27 Dec after 38.1 °C 12 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
28 Dec after 38.7 °C 12 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
29 Dec after 39.2 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
30 Dec after 39.3 °C 9 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
31 Dec after 38.8 °C 11 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
1 Jan after 37.5 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
2 Jan after 36.0 °C 19 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
3 Jan after 36.9 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
4 Jan after 36.8 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Dec 2017
After · 1 Jan 2018

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 · 135Every 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 Maiwut fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 December 2017 and 25 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 5,487 hectares (54.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Maiwut (4,849 ha, 1.3 %); Longochuk (674 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.3 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 33 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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.