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SS · South Sudan · →

Manyo fire, 12 November 2021 Manyo, Fashoda

Out · last detection 20 Nov 2021, 11:40 UTC

The fire started on 12 November 2021 in Manyo, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,087 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 151th largest in Upper Nile since 2016 (of 284 with a page). Number 112 in South Sudan in 2021, of 212.

Burnt area
7,087ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
12 Nov 2021 – 19 Nov 2021
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
12 Nov
2021
Heat detections
182
in a single hotspot: 105 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Energy released
2.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

20 Nov 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Nov19 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

121314151617181920

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
41km/h · peak gust
8%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

87% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,020 ha in 2016, 717 ha in 2017, 99 ha in 2018, 4,947 ha in 2019, 3,883 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,133 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Manyo where it started
    3,961 ha reached on 13 Nov
    0.6 %
  2. Fashoda
    3,015 ha reached on 14 Nov
    0.8 %

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)
12 Nov 37.4 °C 23 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
13 Nov 38.5 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
14 Nov 39.0 °C 9 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
15 Nov 38.3 °C 8 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
16 Nov 38.1 °C 11 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
17 Nov 39.3 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
18 Nov 39.4 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
19 Nov 39.3 °C 16 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
20 Nov after 38.2 °C 14 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
21 Nov after 36.6 °C 10 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
22 Nov after 36.8 °C 9 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
23 Nov after 37.0 °C 13 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
24 Nov after 37.8 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
25 Nov after 37.3 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
26 Nov after 37.9 °C 14 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
27 Nov after 37.8 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
28 Nov after 39.6 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
29 Nov after 37.8 °C 19 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Nov 2021
After · 26 Nov 2021

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 · 182Every 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 Manyo fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 November 2021 and 19 November 2021: 8 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 7,087 hectares (70.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Manyo (3,961 ha, 0.6 %); Fashoda (3,015 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.4 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, 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.