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Pariang fire, 27 November 2017 Pariang, Panyikang

Out · last detection 12 Dec 2017, 11:19 UTC

The fire started on 27 November 2017 in Pariang, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 19,330 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 5th largest in Unity since 2016 (of 85 with a page). Number 19 in South Sudan in 2017, of 203.

Burnt area
19,330ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
27 Nov 2017 – 12 Dec 2017
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
27 Nov
2017
Heat detections
742
in a single hotspot: 355 MW
Danger at start
54
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
11.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

12 Dec 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Nov12 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

272830123456789101112

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

The weather it burned in

40°high
44km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 23 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

36% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 7,043 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Pariang where it started
    18,626 ha reached on 27 Nov
    2.1 %
  2. Panyikang
    816 ha reached on 27 Nov
    0.2 %

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)
27 Nov 37.3 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
28 Nov 36.5 °C 22 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
29 Nov 37.7 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
30 Nov 38.5 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
1 Dec 37.5 °C 15 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
2 Dec 37.6 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
3 Dec 38.3 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
4 Dec 39.2 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
5 Dec 39.5 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
6 Dec 39.6 °C 13 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
7 Dec 38.5 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
8 Dec 38.0 °C 16 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
9 Dec 38.4 °C 16 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
10 Dec 39.1 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
11 Dec 39.9 °C 12 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
12 Dec 39.6 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
13 Dec after 39.1 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
14 Dec after 38.6 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
15 Dec after 38.5 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
16 Dec after 38.5 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
17 Dec after 38.4 °C 15 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
18 Dec after 38.8 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
19 Dec after 39.5 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
20 Dec after 39.6 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
21 Dec after 40.3 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
22 Dec after 39.4 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 20 Nov 2017
After · 19 Dec 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 · 742Every 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 Pariang fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 27 November 2017 and 12 December 2017: 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 19,330 hectares (193.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Pariang (18,626 ha, 2.1 %); Panyikang (816 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.9 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 59, 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

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.