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Maridi fire, December 2017 Wulu, Maridi

Out · last detection 13 Dec 2017, 23:37 UTC

The fire started on 9 December 2017 in Maridi, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,560 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 308th largest in Western Equatoria since 2016 (of 361 with a page). Number 163 in South Sudan in 2017, of 203.

Burnt area
5,560ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
9 Dec 2017 – 12 Dec 2017
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
9 Dec
2017
Heat detections
168
in a single hotspot: 107 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Energy released
2.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

13 Dec 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Dec12 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

910111213

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
33km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

36% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,188 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,029 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Wulu
    4,622 ha reached on 9 Dec
    0.4 %
  2. Maridi where it started
    971 ha reached on 8 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)
9 Dec 35.8 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
10 Dec 36.7 °C 19 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
11 Dec 36.3 °C 18 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Dec 36.9 °C 18 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Dec after 36.9 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
14 Dec after 37.5 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
15 Dec after 36.7 °C 16 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Dec after 35.5 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
17 Dec after 37.0 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
18 Dec after 36.6 °C 20 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
19 Dec after 35.5 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
20 Dec after 36.4 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
21 Dec after 37.8 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
22 Dec after 37.9 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 2 Dec 2017
After · 19 Dec 2017

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 · 168Every 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 Maridi fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 December 2017 and 12 December 2017: 4 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 5,560 hectares (55.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Wulu (4,622 ha, 0.4 %); Maridi (971 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 33 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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.

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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.