Ngala fire, 2 November 2017 Ngala, Marte
The fire started on 2 November 2017 in Ngala, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,390 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 148th largest in Borno since 2016 (of 457 with a page). Number 47 in Nigeria in 2017, of 143.
- Burnt area
- 3,390ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 2 Nov 2017 – 5 Nov 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- local government areas
- Started on
- 2 Nov
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 112
- in a single hotspot: 36 MW
- Danger at start
- 58
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 677MW
- sum of detected power
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 29 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
19% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 642 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Ngala where it started2,161 ha reached on 3 Nov1.1 %
-
1,250 ha reached on 3 Nov0.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Nov | 37.7 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 3 Nov | 36.2 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 4 Nov | 36.3 °C | 13 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 5 Nov | 35.1 °C | 13 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 6 Nov after | 35.5 °C | 11 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 7 Nov after | 35.9 °C | 15 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 8 Nov after | 36.6 °C | 12 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 9 Nov after | 35.6 °C | 14 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 10 Nov after | 34.6 °C | 11 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 11 Nov after | 36.8 °C | 11 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 12 Nov after | 37.5 °C | 11 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 13 Nov after | 36.9 °C | 13 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 14 Nov after | 38.2 °C | 9 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 15 Nov after | 39.2 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
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.
Detections table · 112Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ngala fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 November 2017 and 5 November 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 3,390 hectares (33.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ngala (2,161 ha, 1.1 %); Marte (1,250 ha, 0.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 62, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Nigeria (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.
Emergency number: 112
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.
Report an error
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 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.