Pibor fire, 18 January 2021 Pibor, Pochalla
The fire started on 18 January 2021 in Pibor, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,551 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 97th largest in Jonglei since 2016 (of 427 with a page). Number 54 in South Sudan in 2021, of 212.
- Burnt area
- 11,551ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 18 Jan 2021 – 22 Jan 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- counties
- Started on
- 18 Jan
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 289
- in a single hotspot: 96 MW
- Danger at start
- 39
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.9GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 16 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
67% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 4,382 ha in 2016, 1,933 ha in 2017, 3,075 ha in 2018, 216 ha in 2019, 1,901 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 7,746 ha that had burned before.
- 2,464 ha Pibor fire, December 2016 27,293 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,935 ha Pochalla fire, December 2018 27,715 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,300 ha Pochalla fire, December 2017 14,517 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 15 ha Pibor fire, February 2016 5,385 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Pibor where it started10,043 ha reached on 18 Jan0.3 %
-
1,584 ha reached on 20 Jan0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Jan | 37.0 °C | 19 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 19 Jan | 37.8 °C | 19 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 20 Jan | 37.9 °C | 16 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 21 Jan | 37.8 °C | 16 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 22 Jan | 37.7 °C | 20 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 23 Jan after | 35.7 °C | 29 % | 30 km/h | 0.4 mm | Very high 38 |
| 24 Jan after | 35.9 °C | 27 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 25 Jan after | 36.4 °C | 26 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 26 Jan after | 37.2 °C | 22 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 27 Jan after | 37.7 °C | 21 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 28 Jan after | 37.2 °C | 21 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 29 Jan after | 36.8 °C | 23 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 30 Jan after | 37.4 °C | 20 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 31 Jan after | 38.1 °C | 16 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 1 Feb after | 37.9 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 289Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Pibor fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 January 2021 and 22 January 2021: 5 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 11,551 hectares (115.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Pibor (10,043 ha, 0.3 %); Pochalla (1,584 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.9 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 29 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, 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.
Report an error
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.