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Nzara fire, 8 December 2025 Nzara, Ezo, Yambio

Out · last detection 17 Jan 2026, 22:59 UTC

The fire started on 8 December 2025 in Nzara, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 40 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 120,517 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 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.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 8th largest in Western Equatoria since 2016 (of 361 with a page). Number 6 in South Sudan in 2025, of 293.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Nzara · 2024Nzara · 2016Nzara · 2019Nagero · 2024

Burnt area
120,517ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
40days
8 Dec 2025 – 16 Jan 2026
Municipalities hit
3
counties
Started on
8 Dec
2025
Heat detections
4,429
in a single hotspot: 271 MW
Danger at start
38
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
1.1GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Dec16 Jan
17 Jan 2026

How it evolved, day by day

8 Dec 2025 · 470 MW · 22 9 Dec 2025 · 65 MW · 6 10 Dec 2025 · 24 MW · 1 11 Dec 2025 · 2,084 MW · 104 12 Dec 2025 · 2,423 MW · 169 13 Dec 2025 · 1,204 MW · 132 14 Dec 2025 · 339 MW · 47 15 Dec 2025 · 397 MW · 48 16 Dec 2025 · 650 MW · 93 17 Dec 2025 · 1,269 MW · 117 18 Dec 2025 · 407 MW · 81 19 Dec 2025 · 1,572 MW · 152 20 Dec 2025 · 436 MW · 58 21 Dec 2025 · 524 MW · 70 22 Dec 2025 · 1,108 MW · 102 23 Dec 2025 · 18 MW · 13 24 Dec 2025 · 718 MW · 36 25 Dec 2025 · 475 MW · 43 26 Dec 2025 · 487 MW · 38 27 Dec 2025 · 3,397 MW · 123 28 Dec 2025 · 628 MW · 72 29 Dec 2025 · 345 MW · 28 30 Dec 2025 · 1,060 MW · 181 31 Dec 2025 · 607 MW · 57 1 Jan 2026 · 787 MW · 86 2 Jan 2026 · 861 MW · 100 3 Jan 2026 · 2,636 MW · 150 4 Jan 2026 · 3,699 MW · 526 5 Jan 2026 · 1,478 MW · 182 6 Jan 2026 · 1,903 MW · 254 7 Jan 2026 · 2,460 MW · 333 8 Jan 2026 · 7,716 MW · 445 9 Jan 2026 · 1,903 MW · 396 10 Jan 2026 · 62 MW · 30 11 Jan 2026 · 57 MW · 20 12 Jan 2026 · 120 MW · 8 13 Jan 2026 · 146 MW · 22 14 Jan 2026 · 76 MW · 26 15 Jan 2026 · 79 MW · 28 16 Jan 2026 · 28 MW · 12 17 Jan 2026 · 116 MW · 18
8 Dec 14 Dec 20 Dec 26 Dec 1 Jan 7 Jan 8 Jan 13 Jan

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
42km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 38 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 77,443 ha in 2016, 43,855 ha in 2017, 21,584 ha in 2018, 36,079 ha in 2019, 56,890 ha in 2020, 23,137 ha in 2021, 58,504 ha in 2022, 21,526 ha in 2023, 81,230 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 120,097 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 76% of the area of London (1,205 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Nzara where it started
    117,461 ha reached on 8 Dec
    18 %
  2. Ezo
    3,937 ha reached on 18 Dec
    0.5 %
  3. Yambio
    30 ha reached on 16 Dec
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area0.36 ha
Residents≈ 150

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.36 hectares of built-up land and about 150 residents (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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 36.1 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
9 Dec 33.6 °C 32 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
10 Dec 32.8 °C 35 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
11 Dec 34.1 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Dec 33.6 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
13 Dec 33.0 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
14 Dec 34.1 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
15 Dec 31.7 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Dec 32.5 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
17 Dec 33.4 °C 19 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Dec 32.8 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Dec 33.3 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Dec 33.9 °C 19 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
21 Dec 34.9 °C 22 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
22 Dec 33.3 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Dec 34.6 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
24 Dec 35.7 °C 22 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
25 Dec 35.4 °C 21 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Dec 34.7 °C 24 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Dec 36.3 °C 20 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
28 Dec 33.9 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
29 Dec 33.6 °C 21 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
30 Dec 33.2 °C 20 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
31 Dec 33.3 °C 15 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Jan 34.6 °C 16 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
2 Jan 36.2 °C 22 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
3 Jan 35.8 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Jan 36.0 °C 15 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Jan 35.8 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Jan 35.5 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
7 Jan 36.1 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Jan 36.9 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
9 Jan 36.2 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
10 Jan 34.8 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Jan 34.7 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
12 Jan 35.9 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
13 Jan 35.8 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
14 Jan 35.0 °C 20 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
15 Jan 34.7 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
16 Jan 34.2 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
17 Jan after 35.6 °C 15 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
18 Jan after 36.0 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
19 Jan after 36.2 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
20 Jan after 36.9 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
21 Jan after 35.8 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 Jan after 37.8 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
23 Jan after 37.5 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
24 Jan after 37.6 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
25 Jan after 38.2 °C 12 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
26 Jan after 37.5 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Dec 2025
After · 23 Jan 2026

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 · Copernicus

On 31 December 2025 the air beside the fire reached 147 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 102: 6.8 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak147 µg/m³
Days over the guideline39 days
PM10161 µg/m³
Optical depth1.06
67891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303112345678910111213
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 4,429Every 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?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 8 December 2025 to 16 January 2026 (40 days). The perimeter dates it from 8 December 2025 to 10 January 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 120,517 hectares (1,205.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Nzara (117,461 ha, 18 %); Ezo (3,937 ha, 0.5 %); Yambio (30 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 53, class 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

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 10 January 2026 → 16 January 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 6 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 8 December 2025 to 10 January 2026. 4,429 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.