How long did the Raga fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 December 2020 to 19 January 2021 (34 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 December 2020 to 12 January 2021.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 45,111 hectares (451.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Wau (30,061 ha, 1.6 %); Raga (15,310 ha, 0.2 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 42 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.

SS · South Sudan · 17 Dec 2020 – 19 Jan 2021

Raga fire, 17 December 2020 Wau, Raga

Q: How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?

Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 18. Their median duration was 12 days and their median area 6,919 ha; 28 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 of its 18 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 17 of 18, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.1 mm.

Out · last detection 20 Jan 2021, 11:37 UTC

The fire started on 17 December 2020 in Raga, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 34 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 45,111 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 15th largest in Western Bahr el Ghazal since 2016 (of 338 with a page). Number 4 in South Sudan in 2020, of 190.

Use this data

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Suggestions: Wau · 2024 Raga · 2024 Wau · 2016 Raga · 2018

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Fire page data · version 2026-10-26

matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel

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Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.

Burned area

satellite only

45,111ha

Union of 4 GWIS (Copernicus) perimeters: overlapping areas count once.

Source: GWIS (Copernicus)
Date: 17 Dec 2020 – 19 Jan 2021

+ cross-check

No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.

in my selection

Duration by satellite

satellite only

34days

17 Dec 2020 to 19 Jan 2021: first and last day with fire on the page.

Source: GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date: last detection: 20 Jan 2021, 11:37 UTC

+ cross-check

Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.

in my selection

Start

satellite only

17 Dec 2020

First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.

Source: GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date: 17 Dec 2020

+ cross-check

No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.

in my selection

Hotspots

satellite only

2,485

VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 99 MW.

Source: NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date: 17 Dec 2020 – 19 Jan 2021

+ cross-check

There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.

in my selection

The worst day

satellite only

1,256MW

Total radiative power on 22 December 2020; hotspots that day: 87.

Source: NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date: 22 Dec 2020

+ cross-check

Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.

in my selection

Danger at the start

model

50.9FWI · extreme

Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 43.

Source: WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
Date: 17 Dec 2020, local noon
Model: ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com

+ cross-check

This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings

in my selection

Weather during the fire

model

36.9°C · 9% RH

High of 36.9 °C and minimum humidity of 9% on 17 January 2021; gusts of 42 km/h on 13 January 2021.

Source: weather model at the fire’s grid cell
Date: 17 Dec 2020 – 19 Jan 2021
Model: ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com

+ cross-check

These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.

in my selection

Versioned permanent link

https://worldfires.org/en/fire/raga-2020-12-15?v=2026-10-26

A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.

Citation

A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives

In another language

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CSV for this fire raga-2020-12-15.csv · daily, no individual hotspots

fecha	focos_viirs	frp_mw	tmax_c	tmin_c	hr_min_pct	viento_max_kmh	racha_max_kmh	precip_mm	fwi	clase_fwi	dentro_del_incendio
2020-12-17	41	324	35.1	22.6	12	15.5	38.9	0	50.9	extremo	1
2020-12-18	80	495	34.8	21.5	14	14.6	34.6	0	50.2	extremo	1
2020-12-19	117	916	34.8	21	13	14	35.6	0	50	muy_alto	1
2020-12-20	94	1,093	35	20.8	15	13.5	34.6	0	49.8	muy_alto	1
2020-12-21	83	356	35.3	22.3	15	13.9	35.3	0	50.6	extremo	1
2020-12-22	87	1,256	35.6	21.8	18	11.6	29.2	0	47.5	muy_alto	1
2020-12-23	45	326	36.1	23.8	19	10.5	27.4	0.1	45.9	muy_alto	1
2020-12-24	93	698	36.4	24.5	17	12.4	30.2	0	48.3	muy_alto	1
2020-12-25	23	48	36.5	23.3	17	8.3	24.8	0	44.2	muy_alto	1
2020-12-26	146	848	36.1	23.4	16	13	33.5	0	49.6	muy_alto	1
2020-12-27	35	148	36.1	23.8	18	12.2	32	0	48.9	muy_alto	1
2020-12-28	28	358	35.9	24.1	17	13.5	33.8	0	50.7	extremo	1
2020-12-29	67	640	36.3	22.6	14	13.8	35.3	0	51.3	extremo	1
2020-12-30	167	1,034	36.8	22.8	16	12	32.4	0	49.5	muy_alto	1
2020-12-31	228	1,111	36.8	24.3	12	14.7	35.6	0	53	extremo	1
2021-01-01	126	804	36.8	22.4	13	11.5	31.3	0	49.5	muy_alto	1
2021-01-02	75	530	35.7	23	17	13.2	29.5	0	51.1	extremo	1
2021-01-03	103	1,083	36	22.8	16	11	26.6	0	48.8	muy_alto	1
2021-01-04	122	865	36.2	24.8	15	15.4	37.8	0	54.3	extremo	1
2021-01-05	121	404	36.1	22.8	13	15.3	38.2	0	54.4	extremo	1
2021-01-06	99	319	36.6	23.4	14	15	37.4	0	54.3	extremo	1
2021-01-07	55	299	36.2	23	13	15.5	37.4	0	55.2	extremo	1
2021-01-08	65	260	35.7	22.9	12	15.9	38.2	0	56	extremo	1
2021-01-09	41	345	34.1	22.7	15	11.6	25.9	0	50.1	extremo	1
2021-01-10	71	578	34.9	21.1	10	14.4	34.9	0	53.7	extremo	1
2021-01-11	133	1,080	34.9	21.4	10	13.7	35.3	0	53.1	extremo	1
2021-01-12	43	689	35.9	21.7	11	14.9	37.1	0	54.8	extremo	1
2021-01-13	16	157	36.2	22.8	12	17.6	41.8	0	58.5	extremo	1
2021-01-14	8	65	36.2	23	11	15.3	37.8	0	55.8	extremo	1
2021-01-15	7	22	35.8	22.5	11	14.7	34.6	0	55.3	extremo	1
2021-01-16	18	49	36.1	21.6	11	11.7	31.7	0	51.9	extremo	1
2021-01-17	8	29	36.9	22.7	9	13.6	36	0	54.5	extremo	1
2021-01-18	17	106	36.3	22.8	9	14.9	36.7	0	56.3	extremo	1
2021-01-19	6	21	35.1	23.1	13	16.9	40.3	0	59.2	extremo	1
2021-01-20	17	260	34.4	22	10	18.8	42.5	0	62.1	extremo	0
2021-01-21	0	0	34.2	20.9	11	17.8	40.7	0	60.9	extremo	0
2021-01-22	0	0	34.9	21.2	14	14.9	34.9	0	55.9	extremo	0
2021-01-23	0	0	36.2	22.3	16	12.1	29.9	0	51.6	extremo	0
2021-01-24	0	0	35.5	23.6	14	12	31.7	0	51.7	extremo	0
2021-01-25	0	0	37	23.9	15	15.4	37.8	0	56.1	extremo	0
2021-01-26	0	0	36.3	24.3	15	11.6	29.5	0	51.7	extremo	0
2021-01-27	0	0	37.7	23.8	13	14.2	32.4	0	55.1	extremo	0
2021-01-28	0	0	37.8	25.1	14	13.9	36.7	0	54.9	extremo	0
2021-01-29	0	0	37.2	25.7	8	17.6	40.7	0	60.5	extremo	0

It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.

Live widget for your story

It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.

Sources for this page: GWIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology

Burnt area: 45,111ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 34days; 17 Dec 2020 – 19 Jan 2021
Municipalities hit: 2; counties
Started on: 17 Dec; 2020
Heat detections: 2,485; in a single hotspot: 99 MW
Danger at start: 51; Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power: 503MW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Dec19 Jan

Play back 20 Jan 2021

How it evolved, day by day

17 Dec 22 Dec 31 Dec 7 Jan 14 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

9%lowest humidity

It had gone 43 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

94% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 33,962 ha in 2016, 14,202 ha in 2017, 14,443 ha in 2018, 14,022 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 42,230 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 28% of the area of London (451 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

Wau

30,061 ha reached on 18 Dec

1.6 %
Raga where it started

15,310 ha reached on 17 Dec

0.2 %

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 2020

Built-up area< 0.1 ha

Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, 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.

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)

Started with Very dry air: 33 % of the area in South Sudan

Day	High	Min. humidity	Peak gust	Rain	Danger (FWI)
17 Dec	35.1 °C	12 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
18 Dec	34.8 °C	14 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 50
19 Dec	34.8 °C	13 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 50
20 Dec	35.0 °C	15 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 50
21 Dec	35.3 °C	15 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
22 Dec	35.6 °C	18 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
23 Dec	36.1 °C	19 %	27 km/h	0.1 mm	Very high 46
24 Dec	36.4 °C	17 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
25 Dec	36.5 °C	17 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
26 Dec	36.1 °C	16 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 50
27 Dec	36.1 °C	18 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 49
28 Dec	35.9 °C	17 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
29 Dec	36.3 °C	14 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
30 Dec	36.8 °C	16 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 50
31 Dec	36.8 °C	12 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 53
1 Jan	36.8 °C	13 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 50
2 Jan	35.7 °C	17 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
3 Jan	36.0 °C	16 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 49
4 Jan	36.2 °C	15 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
5 Jan	36.1 °C	13 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
6 Jan	36.6 °C	14 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
7 Jan	36.2 °C	13 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
8 Jan	35.7 °C	12 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
9 Jan	34.1 °C	15 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 50
10 Jan	34.9 °C	10 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
11 Jan	34.9 °C	10 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 53
12 Jan	35.9 °C	11 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
13 Jan	36.2 °C	12 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
14 Jan	36.2 °C	11 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
15 Jan	35.8 °C	11 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
16 Jan	36.1 °C	11 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
17 Jan	36.9 °C	9 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
18 Jan	36.3 °C	9 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
19 Jan	35.1 °C	13 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
20 Jan after	34.4 °C	10 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62
21 Jan after	34.2 °C	11 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 61
22 Jan after	34.9 °C	14 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
23 Jan after	36.2 °C	16 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
24 Jan after	35.5 °C	14 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
25 Jan after	37.0 °C	15 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
26 Jan after	36.3 °C	15 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
27 Jan after	37.7 °C	13 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
28 Jan after	37.8 °C	14 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
29 Jan after	37.2 °C	8 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 50.9, a minimum humidity of 12% and 43 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 18.

FWI at the start 50.9

Minimum humidity 12 %

Days without rain 43

this fire chosen twins rest of the area

How alike they must beTwins: 18

Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Same scale

Wau fire, January 2024

67,289 ha 26 days FWI 50.8 Min. humidity 11 % 54 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

12 days
median duration: 6,919 ha
median area: 28 %
went past 10,000 ha: 1.1 mm
rain at the end (median; 1 of 18 had it)

It was 6.5 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 34 days, against 12 days.

Only 1 of its 18 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 17 of 18, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.1 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain

—no rain in ten days

42km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 19 Jan, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 1 of 18, with a median of 1.1 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 10 Dec 2020

After · 26 Jan 2021

Before After

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 · 2,485Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in South Sudan

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Raga fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 December 2020 to 19 January 2021 (34 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 December 2020 to 12 January 2021.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 45,111 hectares (451.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Wau (30,061 ha, 1.6 %); Raga (15,310 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 42 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?: Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 18. Their median duration was 12 days and their median area 6,919 ha; 28 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 of its 18 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 17 of 18, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.1 mm.

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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

26 October 2026 Last day with fire: 12 January 2021 → 19 January 2021.
26 October 2026 Start date: 18 December 2020 → 17 December 2020.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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

What do you think is wrong?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

Your connection to the fire (optional) Email (optional)

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

How we know this

Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 4 polygons grouped in this page.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 18 December 2020 to 12 January 2021. 2,485 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 2020, 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.

Use this data

Burned area

Duration by satellite

Start

Hotspots

The worst day

Danger at the start

Weather during the fire

What was saved on 26 October 2026

Versioned permanent link

Citation

A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives

CSV for this fire raga-2020-12-15.csv · daily, no individual hotspots

Live widget for your story

Where it burned

How it evolved, day by day

The weather it burned in

This area had burned before

How big is it?

What happened to each town

People and buildings inside the perimeter

The weather day by day

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

Outlines of the closest twins

What happened to them

How it ended

How a twin is chosen

Before and after, from space

Other fires nearby

Frequently asked questions

Where to verify it

Does something look wrong on this page?

Where this data comes from