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Nwoya fire, 27 January 2016 Nwoya, Kilak

Out · last detection 8 Feb 2016, 11:37 UTC

The fire started on 27 January 2016 in Nwoya, Uganda, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,431 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 50th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 1377 with a page). Number 10 in Uganda in 2016, of 269.

Burnt area
4,431ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
12days
27 Jan 2016 – 7 Feb 2016
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
27 Jan
2016
Heat detections
191
in a single hotspot: 86 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

8 Feb 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Jan7 Feb

How it evolved, day by day

272829303112345678

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
38km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Nwoya where it started
    3,747 ha reached on 24 Jan
    0.9 %
  2. Kilak
    714 ha reached on 27 Jan
    0.2 %

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)
27 Jan 30.2 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
28 Jan 30.1 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
29 Jan 30.9 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
30 Jan 31.4 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
31 Jan 32.7 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
1 Feb 33.3 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
2 Feb 33.2 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Feb 33.5 °C 22 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
4 Feb 35.2 °C 18 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
5 Feb 35.4 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
6 Feb 36.1 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
7 Feb 35.9 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
8 Feb after 34.7 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
9 Feb after 34.5 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
10 Feb after 34.6 °C 11 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
11 Feb after 34.3 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Feb after 35.3 °C 14 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
13 Feb after 35.0 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Feb after 36.1 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
15 Feb after 35.2 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
16 Feb after 35.9 °C 19 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
17 Feb after 37.0 °C 15 % 32 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.

Before · 20 Jan 2016
After · 14 Feb 2016

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 · 191Every 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 Uganda ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Nwoya fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 27 January 2016 and 7 February 2016: 12 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 4,431 hectares (44.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Nwoya (3,747 ha, 0.9 %); Kilak (714 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.1 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Uganda (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: 999 · 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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 999 · 112.

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 (Public Domain). 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.