Pochalla fire, 21 December 2017 Pochalla, Pibor
The fire started on 21 December 2017 in Pochalla, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 14,517 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 63th largest in Jonglei since 2016 (of 427 with a page). Number 35 in South Sudan in 2017, of 203.
- Burnt area
- 14,517ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 21 Dec 2017 – 24 Dec 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- counties
- Started on
- 21 Dec
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 452
- in a single hotspot: 168 MW
- Danger at start
- 43
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 10.2GW
- 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 38 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
44% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 6,853 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,428 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Pochalla where it started13,978 ha reached on 21 Dec1.7 %
-
622 ha reached on 23 Dec0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Dec | 38.0 °C | 17 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 22 Dec | 37.8 °C | 15 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 23 Dec | 37.5 °C | 16 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 24 Dec | 37.6 °C | 15 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 25 Dec after | 37.9 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 26 Dec after | 37.6 °C | 16 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 27 Dec after | 37.2 °C | 17 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 28 Dec after | 37.3 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 29 Dec after | 37.6 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 30 Dec after | 37.7 °C | 17 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 31 Dec after | 37.8 °C | 15 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 1 Jan after | 37.3 °C | 15 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 2 Jan after | 35.6 °C | 19 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 3 Jan after | 36.2 °C | 19 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
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 · 452Every 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 Pochalla fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 December 2017 and 24 December 2017: 4 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 14,517 hectares (145.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Pochalla (13,978 ha, 1.7 %); Pibor (622 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.0 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 44 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.
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.