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Nzara fire, 8 December 2016 Nzara, Nagero, Ezo

Out · last detection 2 Jan 2017, 23:06 UTC

The fire started on 8 December 2016 in Nzara, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 25 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 156,948 hectares from heat detections, spread across 5 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

It is the 4th largest in Western Equatoria since 2016 (of 361 with a page). Number 4 in South Sudan in 2016, of 244.

Burnt area
156,948ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
25days
8 Dec 2016 – 1 Jan 2017
Municipalities hit
5
counties
Started on
8 Dec
2016
Heat detections
7,607
in a single hotspot: 487 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Energy released
72.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

2 Jan 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Dec1 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303112

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
45km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 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. Nzara where it started
    59,556 ha reached on 12 Dec
    9.2 %
  2. Nagero
    36,345 ha reached on 8 Dec
    3.9 %
  3. Ezo
    33,855 ha reached on 9 Dec
    4.2 %
  4. Wulu
    18,473 ha reached on 8 Dec
    1.6 %
  5. Yambio
    9,890 ha reached on 18 Dec
    1.1 %

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)
8 Dec 36.3 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
9 Dec 36.0 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
10 Dec 36.5 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
11 Dec 36.2 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Dec 35.8 °C 22 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
13 Dec 35.3 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
14 Dec 35.8 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
15 Dec 34.1 °C 14 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Dec 34.9 °C 16 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
17 Dec 35.3 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Dec 35.4 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
19 Dec 35.6 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Dec 36.0 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
21 Dec 36.4 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
22 Dec 36.8 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 Dec 35.9 °C 25 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
24 Dec 36.5 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
25 Dec 37.4 °C 20 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
26 Dec 35.9 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
27 Dec 35.6 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
28 Dec 35.6 °C 19 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
29 Dec 36.6 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
30 Dec 37.0 °C 16 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
31 Dec 37.1 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Jan 37.4 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
2 Jan after 37.1 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
3 Jan after 36.5 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Jan after 36.8 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
5 Jan after 36.0 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
6 Jan after 37.4 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
7 Jan after 37.9 °C 12 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
8 Jan after 38.1 °C 10 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Jan after 37.1 °C 10 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
10 Jan after 37.5 °C 11 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
11 Jan after 37.9 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Dec 2016
After · 8 Jan 2017

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 · 7,607Every 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 Nzara fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 December 2016 and 1 January 2017: 25 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 156,948 hectares (1,569.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 5 municipalities: Nzara (59,556 ha, 9.2 %); Nagero (36,345 ha, 3.9 %); Ezo (33,855 ha, 4.2 %); Wulu (18,473 ha, 1.6 %); Yambio (9,890 ha, 1.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.4 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, class Very high.
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.