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Nyirol fire, January 2016 Nyirol, Ulang

Out · last detection 31 Jan 2016, 23:25 UTC

The fire started on 15 January 2016 in Nyirol, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,988 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 305th largest in Jonglei since 2016 (of 427 with a page). Number 181 in South Sudan in 2016, of 244.

Burnt area
5,988ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
15 Jan 2016 – 30 Jan 2016
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
15 Jan
2016
Heat detections
298
in a single hotspot: 41 MW
Danger at start
63
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
1.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

31 Jan 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Jan30 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

1516171819202122232425262728293031

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

The weather it burned in

39°high
52km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 44 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. Nyirol where it started
    3,061 ha reached on 8 Jan
    0.4 %
  2. Ulang
    2,969 ha reached on 8 Jan
    0.6 %

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)
15 Jan 37.4 °C 17 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
16 Jan 38.1 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
17 Jan 39.2 °C 15 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
18 Jan 39.1 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
19 Jan 36.9 °C 9 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
20 Jan 37.3 °C 9 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
21 Jan 37.6 °C 13 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
22 Jan 38.0 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
23 Jan 39.1 °C 13 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
24 Jan 38.0 °C 14 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
25 Jan 35.5 °C 13 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
26 Jan 34.6 °C 15 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
27 Jan 32.6 °C 13 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
28 Jan 32.5 °C 12 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
29 Jan 32.7 °C 11 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
30 Jan 35.8 °C 11 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
31 Jan after 36.3 °C 12 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
1 Feb after 37.6 °C 11 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
2 Feb after 37.2 °C 12 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
3 Feb after 38.2 °C 14 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
4 Feb after 38.9 °C 14 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
5 Feb after 39.8 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
6 Feb after 39.6 °C 11 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
7 Feb after 38.3 °C 13 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
8 Feb after 37.9 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
9 Feb after 39.2 °C 9 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Jan 2016
After · 6 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 · 298Every 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 South Sudan ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Nyirol fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 January 2016 and 30 January 2016: 16 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 5,988 hectares (59.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Nyirol (3,061 ha, 0.4 %); Ulang (2,969 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.2 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 72, class Very 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.

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

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.

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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.