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Omatako fire, June 2021 Omatako, Otjiwarongo

Out · last detection 13 Jun 2021, 13:10 UTC

The fire started on 12 June 2021 in Omatako, Namibia, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,320 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 103th largest in Otjozondjupa since 2016 (of 212 with a page). Number 77 in Namibia in 2021, of 175.

Burnt area
3,320ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
2days
12 Jun 2021 – 13 Jun 2021
Municipalities hit
2
constituencies
Started on
12 Jun
2021
Heat detections
119
in a single hotspot: 135 MW
Danger at start
44
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
2.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

13 Jun 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Jun13 Jun

How it evolved, day by day

1213

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

The weather it burned in

24°high
41km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months 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. Omatako where it started
    3,122 ha reached on 12 Jun
    0.1 %
  2. Otjiwarongo
    201 ha reached on 13 Jun
    0.0 %

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)
12 Jun 24.0 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
13 Jun 23.8 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Jun after 23.9 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
15 Jun after 23.9 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
16 Jun after 24.9 °C 14 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
17 Jun after 25.7 °C 14 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Jun after 24.6 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
19 Jun after 24.2 °C 21 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
20 Jun after 22.7 °C 24 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
21 Jun after 21.8 °C 25 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
22 Jun after 21.9 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Jun after 22.5 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Jun 2021
After · 20 Jun 2021

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 · 119Every 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 Namibia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Omatako fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 June 2021 and 13 June 2021: 2 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 3,320 hectares (33.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Omatako (3,122 ha, 0.1 %); Otjiwarongo (201 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 24.0 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Namibia (OCHA COD-AB). 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 OCHA COD-AB (Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA)) (Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-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.