Ngaski fire, January 2026 Ngaski, Shanga
The fire started on 18 January 2026 in Ngaski, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,519 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 9th largest in Kebbi since 2016 (of 42 with a page). Number 65 in Nigeria in 2026, of 262.
- Burnt area
- 4,519ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 13days
- 18 Jan 2026 – 30 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- local government areas
- Started on
- 18 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 125
- in a single hotspot: 56 MW
- Danger at start
- 37
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 943MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
70% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,322 ha in 2022, 2,839 ha in 2024, 1,538 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,183 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Ngaski where it started4,181 ha reached on 18 Jan1.5 %
-
371 ha reached on 22 Jan0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Jan | 35.1 °C | 29 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 19 Jan | 34.9 °C | 24 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 20 Jan | 34.8 °C | 14 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 21 Jan | 32.8 °C | 19 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 22 Jan | 31.1 °C | 17 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 23 Jan | 33.8 °C | 18 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 24 Jan | 35.5 °C | 21 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 25 Jan | 36.1 °C | 17 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 26 Jan | 35.5 °C | 13 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 27 Jan | 34.6 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 28 Jan | 35.3 °C | 19 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 29 Jan | 35.5 °C | 19 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 30 Jan | 36.1 °C | 15 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 31 Jan after | 36.6 °C | 20 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 1 Feb after | 37.0 °C | 21 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 2 Feb after | 38.2 °C | 17 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 3 Feb after | 37.0 °C | 19 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 4 Feb after | 38.7 °C | 19 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 5 Feb after | 39.2 °C | 16 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 6 Feb after | 36.8 °C | 32 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 7 Feb after | 37.0 °C | 32 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 8 Feb after | 38.4 °C | 20 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 9 Feb after | 37.2 °C | 28 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
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 29 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 150 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 128: 8.5 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 · 125Every 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 Ngaski fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 January 2026 and 30 January 2026: 13 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 4,519 hectares (45.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ngaski (4,181 ha, 1.5 %); Shanga (371 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.1 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, 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.