How long did the Nagero fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 19 December 2019 to 24 January 2020 (37 days). The perimeter dates it from 19 December 2019 to 17 January 2020.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 59,387 hectares (593.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 3 municipalities: Tambura (30,728 ha, 2.4 %); Nagero (28,652 ha, 3.1 %); Wau (496 ha, 0.0 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, 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.

SS · South Sudan · 19 Dec 2019 – 24 Jan 2020

Nagero fire, 19 December 2019 Tambura, Nagero, Wau

Q: How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?

Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 43. Their median duration was 16 days and their median area 7,121 ha; 26 % went past 10,000 ha. None of its 43 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 41 of 43, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.0 mm.

Out · last detection 24 Jan 2020, 11:24 UTC

The fire started on 19 December 2019 in Nagero, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 37 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 59,387 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 13th largest in Western Equatoria since 2016 (of 299 with a page). Number 6 in South Sudan in 2019, of 150.

Use this data

Compare with…

Suggestions: Ezo · 2023 Wau · 2021 Wau · 2016 Tambura · 2016

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Fire page data · version 2026-10-26

matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel

When copying, the sentence is

Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.

Burned area

satellite only

59,387ha

Union of 2 GWIS (Copernicus) perimeters: overlapping areas count once.

Source: GWIS (Copernicus)
Date: 19 Dec 2019 – 24 Jan 2020

+ cross-check

No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.

in my selection

Duration by satellite

satellite only

37days

19 Dec 2019 to 24 Jan 2020: first and last day with fire on the page.

Source: GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date: last detection: 24 Jan 2020, 11:24 UTC

+ cross-check

Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.

in my selection

Start

satellite only

19 Dec 2019

First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.

Source: GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date: 19 Dec 2019

+ cross-check

No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.

in my selection

Hotspots

satellite only

3,274

VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 286 MW.

Source: NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date: 19 Dec 2019 – 24 Jan 2020

+ cross-check

There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.

in my selection

The worst day

satellite only

7,341MW

Total radiative power on 2 January 2020; hotspots that day: 272.

Source: NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date: 2 Jan 2020

+ cross-check

Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.

in my selection

Danger at the start

model

40.4FWI · very high

Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 22.

Source: WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
Date: 19 Dec 2019, local noon
Model: ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com

+ cross-check

This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings

in my selection

Weather during the fire

model

38.1°C · 12% RH

High of 38.1 °C and minimum humidity of 12% on 17 January 2020; gusts of 39 km/h on 3 January 2020.

Source: weather model at the fire’s grid cell
Date: 19 Dec 2019 – 24 Jan 2020
Model: ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com

+ cross-check

These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.

in my selection

Versioned permanent link

https://worldfires.org/en/fire/nagero-2019-12-3?v=2026-10-26

A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.

Citation

A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives

In another language

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CSV for this fire nagero-2019-12-3.csv · daily, no individual hotspots

fecha	focos_viirs	frp_mw	tmax_c	tmin_c	hr_min_pct	viento_max_kmh	racha_max_kmh	fwi	clase_fwi	dentro_del_incendio
2019-12-19	73	2,490	34.1	22.2	19	14.3	33.8	40.4	muy_alto	1
2019-12-20	73	1,262	34.6	23.2	20	11.4	29.9	38.2	muy_alto	1
2019-12-21	29	275	35	22.4	20	12.2	31.3	39.5	muy_alto	1
2019-12-22	70	1,023	35.4	22	19	13.6	33.5	41.3	muy_alto	1
2019-12-23	41	596	36.1	21.9	17	13.6	33.8	41.9	muy_alto	1
2019-12-24	110	1,359	35.6	22.5	22	10.5	27.7	39.4	muy_alto	1
2019-12-25	91	1,366	36.2	23.8	18	12.8	31.3	42	muy_alto	1
2019-12-26	102	626	34.8	23.2	12	15.6	37.1	47.8	muy_alto	1
2019-12-27	97	1,563	34.1	20.8	11	14.2	33.5	47.2	muy_alto	1
2019-12-28	159	2,071	33.2	19.9	11	14.5	34.2	48	muy_alto	1
2019-12-29	416	4,288	34.3	18.5	10	14	34.2	48.6	muy_alto	1
2019-12-30	305	4,795	35.7	20.1	10	14.6	34.9	50.6	extremo	1
2019-12-31	169	1,939	35.5	21.2	14	14.4	34.2	50.8	extremo	1
2020-01-01	213	2,712	36.1	22.3	17	11.6	30.6	47.7	muy_alto	1
2020-01-02	272	7,341	37.4	23.8	17	13.1	33.1	49.8	muy_alto	1
2020-01-03	70	334	37.1	24.3	17	16.9	39.2	54.8	extremo	1
2020-01-04	29	24	34.7	25.1	16	12.9	31.3	49.7	muy_alto	1
2020-01-05	61	483	32.8	22.8	16	16.6	36.7	52.9	extremo	1
2020-01-06	42	522	33.9	21.6	15	14.3	33.1	50.6	extremo	1
2020-01-07	77	1,006	34.6	22.5	16	15.7	36.4	52.6	extremo	1
2020-01-08	77	350	35.4	23.4	13	15.3	36	52.4	extremo	1
2020-01-09	81	290	34.1	23.9	12	17.4	38.9	55.4	extremo	1
2020-01-10	109	520	33.8	22.1	13	15	34.6	52.7	extremo	1
2020-01-11	78	235	32.7	20.4	11	15.5	34.9	53.7	extremo	1
2020-01-12	51	701	31.6	18.6	9	16.4	36.4	55.1	extremo	1
2020-01-13	131	1,039	33.1	18.1	9	13	31.3	51.3	extremo	1
2020-01-14	68	562	35.7	20.4	12	12.8	32.4	51.3	extremo	1
2020-01-15	52	143	37.3	20.9	11	11.2	28.4	49.8	muy_alto	1
2020-01-16	34	590	37.5	22.7	14	10.7	29.5	49.5	muy_alto	1
2020-01-17	20	95	38.1	23.4	12	12.6	32.8	52	extremo	1
2020-01-18	11	42	35.3	24.5	13	17.3	34.6	58.1	extremo	1
2020-01-19	5	16	33.4	22.5	14	17.4	38.9	57.4	extremo	1
2020-01-20	1	1	32.9	21.5	14	17.7	39.2	57.3	extremo	1
2020-01-21	7	9	33	20.7	13	17.8	39.2	57.8	extremo	1
2020-01-22	42	1,571	32.2	20	10	17.7	39.2	57.9	extremo	1
2020-01-23	1	4	31.3	19	10	17.2	39.2	57.5	extremo	1
2020-01-24	7	28	31.3	18.1	10	16.6	37.4	57	extremo	1
2020-01-25	0	0	31.9	18.7	11	16.7	39.2	57.4	extremo	0
2020-01-26	0	0	33	19.5	12	16.2	36.7	57	extremo	0
2020-01-27	0	0	34.5	20.6	12	14.8	34.2	55.5	extremo	0
2020-01-28	0	0	36.1	20.9	11	13.6	33.8	54.3	extremo	0
2020-01-29	0	0	35.5	21.5	10	15.3	36.7	56.7	extremo	0
2020-01-30	0	0	35.1	21.4	11	15.2	34.9	56.8	extremo	0
2020-01-31	0	0	34.6	22.3	10	11.2	22.7	52.1	extremo	0
2020-02-01	0	0	35.5	23.3	11	13.8	28.4	55.5	extremo	0
2020-02-02	0	0	36.1	22.4	13	11.8	30.2	53.3	extremo	0
2020-02-03	0	0	36.8	23	11	13.2	34.2	55.3	extremo	0

It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.

Live widget for your story

It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.

Sources for this page: GWIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology

Burnt area: 59,387ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 37days; 19 Dec 2019 – 24 Jan 2020
Municipalities hit: 3; counties
Started on: 19 Dec; 2019
Heat detections: 3,274; in a single hotspot: 286 MW
Danger at start: 40; Very high · FWI index
Average daily power: 1.1GW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Dec24 Jan

Play back 24 Jan 2020

How it evolved, day by day

19 Dec 27 Dec 2 Jan 12 Jan 20 Jan

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

The weather it burned in

38°high

39km/h · peak gust

9%lowest humidity

It had gone 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

71% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 35,991 ha in 2016, 18,474 ha in 2017, 9,981 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 42,398 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 38% of the area of London (594 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

Tambura

30,728 ha reached on 20 Dec

2.4 %
Nagero where it started

28,652 ha reached on 19 Dec

3.1 %
Wau

496 ha reached on 19 Dec

0.0 %

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 2020

Built-up area< 0.1 ha

Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, 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.

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	Danger (FWI)
19 Dec	34.1 °C	19 %	34 km/h	Very high 40
20 Dec	34.6 °C	20 %	30 km/h	Very high 38
21 Dec	35.0 °C	20 %	31 km/h	Very high 40
22 Dec	35.4 °C	19 %	34 km/h	Very high 41
23 Dec	36.1 °C	17 %	34 km/h	Very high 42
24 Dec	35.6 °C	22 %	28 km/h	Very high 39
25 Dec	36.2 °C	18 %	31 km/h	Very high 42
26 Dec	34.8 °C	12 %	37 km/h	Very high 48
27 Dec	34.1 °C	11 %	34 km/h	Very high 47
28 Dec	33.2 °C	11 %	34 km/h	Very high 48
29 Dec	34.3 °C	10 %	34 km/h	Very high 49
30 Dec	35.7 °C	10 %	35 km/h	Extreme 51
31 Dec	35.5 °C	14 %	34 km/h	Extreme 51
1 Jan	36.1 °C	17 %	31 km/h	Very high 48
2 Jan	37.4 °C	17 %	33 km/h	Very high 50
3 Jan	37.1 °C	17 %	39 km/h	Extreme 55
4 Jan	34.7 °C	16 %	31 km/h	Very high 50
5 Jan	32.8 °C	16 %	37 km/h	Extreme 53
6 Jan	33.9 °C	15 %	33 km/h	Extreme 51
7 Jan	34.6 °C	16 %	36 km/h	Extreme 53
8 Jan	35.4 °C	13 %	36 km/h	Extreme 52
9 Jan	34.1 °C	12 %	39 km/h	Extreme 55
10 Jan	33.8 °C	13 %	35 km/h	Extreme 53
11 Jan	32.7 °C	11 %	35 km/h	Extreme 54
12 Jan	31.6 °C	9 %	36 km/h	Extreme 55
13 Jan	33.1 °C	9 %	31 km/h	Extreme 51
14 Jan	35.7 °C	12 %	32 km/h	Extreme 51
15 Jan	37.3 °C	11 %	28 km/h	Very high 50
16 Jan	37.5 °C	14 %	30 km/h	Very high 50
17 Jan	38.1 °C	12 %	33 km/h	Extreme 52
18 Jan	35.3 °C	13 %	35 km/h	Extreme 58
19 Jan	33.4 °C	14 %	39 km/h	Extreme 57
20 Jan	32.9 °C	14 %	39 km/h	Extreme 57
21 Jan	33.0 °C	13 %	39 km/h	Extreme 58
22 Jan	32.2 °C	10 %	39 km/h	Extreme 58
23 Jan	31.3 °C	10 %	39 km/h	Extreme 58
24 Jan	31.3 °C	10 %	37 km/h	Extreme 57
25 Jan after	31.9 °C	11 %	39 km/h	Extreme 57
26 Jan after	33.0 °C	12 %	37 km/h	Extreme 57
27 Jan after	34.5 °C	12 %	34 km/h	Extreme 56
28 Jan after	36.1 °C	11 %	34 km/h	Extreme 54
29 Jan after	35.5 °C	10 %	37 km/h	Extreme 57
30 Jan after	35.1 °C	11 %	35 km/h	Extreme 57
31 Jan after	34.6 °C	10 %	23 km/h	Extreme 52
1 Feb after	35.5 °C	11 %	28 km/h	Extreme 56
2 Feb after	36.1 °C	13 %	30 km/h	Extreme 53
3 Feb after	36.8 °C	11 %	34 km/h	Extreme 55

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 40.4, a minimum humidity of 19% and 22 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 43.

FWI at the start 40.4

Minimum humidity 19 %

Days without rain 22

this fire chosen twins rest of the area

How alike they must beTwins: 43

Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Same scale

Ezo fire, December 2023

7,629 ha 9 days FWI 39.7 Min. humidity 19 % 126 km away, in 2023

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

16 days
median duration: 7,121 ha
median area: 26 %
went past 10,000 ha: 1.0 mm
rain at the end (median; 2 of 43 had it)

It was 8.3 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 37 days, against 16 days.

None of its 43 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 41 of 43, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.0 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain

—no rain in ten days

39km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 24 Jan, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 2 of 43, with a median of 1.0 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 12 Dec 2019

After · 31 Jan 2020

Before After

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 · 3,274Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in South Sudan

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Nagero fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 19 December 2019 to 24 January 2020 (37 days). The perimeter dates it from 19 December 2019 to 17 January 2020.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 59,387 hectares (593.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 3 municipalities: Tambura (30,728 ha, 2.4 %); Nagero (28,652 ha, 3.1 %); Wau (496 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?: Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 43. Their median duration was 16 days and their median area 7,121 ha; 26 % went past 10,000 ha. None of its 43 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 41 of 43, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.0 mm.

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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

26 October 2026 Last day with fire: 17 January 2020 → 24 January 2020.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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

What do you think is wrong?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

Your connection to the fire (optional) Email (optional)

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

How we know this

Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 19 December 2019 to 17 January 2020. 3,274 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 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.

Use this data

Burned area

Duration by satellite

Start

Hotspots

The worst day

Danger at the start

Weather during the fire

What was saved on 26 October 2026

Versioned permanent link

Citation

A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives

CSV for this fire nagero-2019-12-3.csv · daily, no individual hotspots

Live widget for your story

Where it burned

How it evolved, day by day

The weather it burned in

This area had burned before

How big is it?

What happened to each town

People and buildings inside the perimeter

The weather day by day

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

Outlines of the closest twins

What happened to them

How it ended

How a twin is chosen

Before and after, from space

Other fires nearby

Frequently asked questions

Where to verify it

Does something look wrong on this page?

Where this data comes from