Maiwut fire, February 2024 Maiwut, Luakpiny/Nasir
The fire started on 16 February 2024 in Maiwut, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 39 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 18,640 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 31th largest in Upper Nile since 2016 (of 285 with a page). Number 20 in South Sudan in 2024, of 180.
Compare with…
Suggestions: Maiwut · 2022Maiwut · 2020Maiwut · 2020Maiwut · 2022
- Burnt area
- 18,640ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 39days
- 16 Feb 2024 – 25 Mar 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- counties
- Started on
- 16 Feb
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 1,300
- in a single hotspot: 315 MW
- Danger at start
- 66
- Extreme · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 465MW
- detected power per day, on average
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. Rain came after the fire: 10.2 mm on 2 Apr.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 7,379 ha in 2016, 14,850 ha in 2017, 3,323 ha in 2018, 15,010 ha in 2019, 16,051 ha in 2020, 13,171 ha in 2021, 16,645 ha in 2022, 9,203 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 18,657 ha that had burned before.
- 3,709 ha Maiwut fire, February 2022 5,215 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,570 ha Maiwut fire, February 2020 5,614 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,353 ha Maiwut fire, February 2020 7,607 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,422 ha Maiwut fire, January 2022 5,497 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,271 ha Luakpiny/Nasir fire, January 2017 34,778 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 590 ha Maiwut fire, February 2020 6,498 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Maiwut where it started16,884 ha reached on 16 Feb4.6 %
-
1,866 ha reached on 16 Feb0.4 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2025Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Feb | 39.4 °C | 7 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 17 Feb | 40.5 °C | 10 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 18 Feb | 40.8 °C | 11 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 19 Feb | 40.5 °C | 11 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 20 Feb | 40.6 °C | 11 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 21 Feb | 40.6 °C | 12 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 22 Feb | 39.7 °C | 14 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 23 Feb | 39.7 °C | 19 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 24 Feb | 40.5 °C | 16 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 25 Feb | 41.3 °C | 16 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 26 Feb | 39.9 °C | 17 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 27 Feb | 41.3 °C | 12 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 28 Feb | 40.4 °C | 12 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 29 Feb | 40.3 °C | 11 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 1 Mar | 41.3 °C | 8 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 2 Mar | 41.1 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 3 Mar | 42.1 °C | 6 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 4 Mar | 42.3 °C | 8 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 5 Mar | 40.9 °C | 8 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 6 Mar | 38.7 °C | 14 % | 30 km/h | 0.2 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 7 Mar | 39.4 °C | 13 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 8 Mar | 40.6 °C | 9 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 9 Mar | 41.4 °C | 9 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 10 Mar | 41.1 °C | 19 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 11 Mar | 41.9 °C | 16 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 12 Mar | 41.5 °C | 18 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 13 Mar | 42.1 °C | 18 % | 41 km/h | 0.5 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 14 Mar | 42.1 °C | 17 % | 41 km/h | 0.1 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 15 Mar | 41.3 °C | 20 % | 27 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 50 |
| 16 Mar | 40.3 °C | 21 % | 40 km/h | 0.4 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 17 Mar | 40.7 °C | 22 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 18 Mar | 41.7 °C | 19 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 19 Mar | 39.4 °C | 25 % | 32 km/h | 2.2 mm | High 34 |
| 20 Mar | 40.1 °C | 23 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 21 Mar | 39.8 °C | 25 % | 23 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 36 |
| 22 Mar | 39.5 °C | 24 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 23 Mar | 41.0 °C | 17 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 24 Mar | 42.2 °C | 15 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 25 Mar | 40.8 °C | 12 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 26 Mar after | 40.7 °C | 15 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 27 Mar after | 41.0 °C | 14 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 28 Mar after | 40.3 °C | 17 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 29 Mar after | 40.4 °C | 21 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 30 Mar after | 40.0 °C | 22 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 31 Mar after | 38.5 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 0.5 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 1 Apr after | 39.4 °C | 26 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 2 Apr after | 30.6 °C | 51 % | 48 km/h | 10.2 mm | Low 8 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 9 March 2024 the air beside the fire reached 118 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 67: 4.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 1,300Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 193,143 haMaiwut14 January 2026 · 66 days · 4 km away
- 25,474 haLuakpiny/NasirFebruary 2021 · 14 days · 13 km away
- 18,321 haWantawoFebruary 2026 · 48 days · 29 km away
- 15,144 haLare3 February 2026 · 40 days · 36 km away
- 34,778 haLuakpiny/NasirJanuary 2017 · 29 days · 38 km away
- 13,203 haLuakpiny/NasirMarch 2022 · 28 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Maiwut fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 16 February 2024 to 25 March 2024 (39 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 February 2024 to 18 March 2024.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 18,640 hectares (186.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Maiwut (16,884 ha, 4.6 %); Luakpiny/Nasir (1,866 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 42.3 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 68, 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
History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
- Last day with fire: 18 March 2024 → 25 March 2024.
- Start date: 23 February 2024 → 16 February 2024.
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 23 February 2024 to 18 March 2024. 1,300 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
- Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.