Nwoya fire, 2 January 2017 Nwoya
The fire started on 2 January 2017 in Nwoya, Uganda, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,037 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 61th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 1377 with a page). Number 12 in Uganda in 2017, of 244.
The power measured by the satellite is low (23.8 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 4,037ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 2 Jan 2017 – 7 Jan 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- counties
- Started on
- 2 Jan
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 92
- in a single hotspot: 24 MW
- Danger at start
- 29
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 612MW
- 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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
60% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,431 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Nwoya where it started4,064 ha reached on 1 Jan1.0 %
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 Jan | 35.8 °C | 22 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 3 Jan | 34.4 °C | 30 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 4 Jan | 36.1 °C | 20 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 5 Jan | 38.1 °C | 10 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 6 Jan | 38.3 °C | 6 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 7 Jan | 37.7 °C | 12 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 8 Jan after | 36.8 °C | 15 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 9 Jan after | 36.2 °C | 14 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 10 Jan after | 36.5 °C | 15 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 11 Jan after | 37.2 °C | 11 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 12 Jan after | 36.9 °C | 14 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 13 Jan after | 36.9 °C | 14 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 14 Jan after | 36.8 °C | 13 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 15 Jan after | 37.4 °C | 14 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 16 Jan after | 38.5 °C | 11 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 17 Jan after | 39.4 °C | 8 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
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 · 92Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 16,324 haNwoya6 January 2026 · 17 days · 9 km away
- 10,951 haNwoya28 January 2016 · 18 days · 13 km away
- 13,858 haKibanda9 February 2016 · 7 days · 26 km away
- 10,795 haBuliisa6 January 2019 · 9 days · 27 km away
- 9,718 haBuliisa3 January 2026 · 17 days · 29 km away
- 9,055 haBuliisa15 December 2016 · 16 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Nwoya fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 January 2017 and 7 January 2017: 6 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 4,037 hectares (40.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Nwoya (4,064 ha, 1.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.3 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, class Very 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
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.