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SS · South Sudan · –

Raga fire, 21 December 2024 Raga

Out · last detection 16 Jan 2025, 23:56 UTC

The fire started on 21 December 2024 in Raga, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 27 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,306 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 91th largest in Western Bahr el Ghazal since 2016 (of 338 with a page). Number 48 in South Sudan in 2024, of 180.

Compare with…
Burnt area
11,306ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
27days
21 Dec 2024 – 16 Jan 2025
Municipalities hit
1
counties
Started on
21 Dec
2024
Heat detections
553
in a single hotspot: 56 MW
Danger at start
47
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
90MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Dec16 Jan
16 Jan 2025

How it evolved, day by day

21 Dec 2024 · 46 MW · 20 22 Dec 2024 · 24 MW · 5 23 Dec 2024 · 118 MW · 15 24 Dec 2024 · 143 MW · 13 25 Dec 2024 · 10 MW · 2 26 Dec 2024 · 58 MW · 20 27 Dec 2024 · 14 MW · 2 28 Dec 2024 · 25 MW · 9 29 Dec 2024 · 97 MW · 18 30 Dec 2024 · 121 MW · 26 31 Dec 2024 · 346 MW · 102 1 Jan 2025 · 114 MW · 37 2 Jan 2025 · 89 MW · 31 3 Jan 2025 · 81 MW · 19 4 Jan 2025 · 265 MW · 44 5 Jan 2025 · 267 MW · 42 6 Jan 2025 · 165 MW · 83 7 Jan 2025 · 73 MW · 16 8 Jan 2025 · 131 MW · 19 9 Jan 2025 · 42 MW · 17 10 Jan 2025 · 10 MW · 7 11 Jan 2025 · 0 MW · 1 13 Jan 2025 · 13 MW · 3 14 Jan 2025 · 6 MW · 1 16 Jan 2025 · 0 MW · 1
21 Dec 26 Dec 31 Dec 5 Jan 10 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

34°high
46km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 56 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

97% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,379 ha in 2016, 792 ha in 2017, 3,562 ha in 2019, 6,795 ha in 2020, 7,747 ha in 2021, 2,733 ha in 2022, 6,437 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 10,929 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 7.1% of the area of London (113 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

  1. Raga where it started
    11,382 ha reached on 21 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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
21 Dec 30.1 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
22 Dec 30.4 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
23 Dec 31.2 °C 15 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
24 Dec 31.1 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Dec 30.9 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
26 Dec 31.6 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
27 Dec 31.6 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Dec 29.7 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Dec 31.2 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
30 Dec 30.1 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
31 Dec 28.8 °C 14 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
1 Jan 27.8 °C 12 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
2 Jan 28.5 °C 14 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
3 Jan 30.1 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Jan 33.3 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
5 Jan 33.6 °C 14 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
6 Jan 30.8 °C 12 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
7 Jan 29.7 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
8 Jan 30.8 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Jan 31.3 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
10 Jan 31.0 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Jan 30.2 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
12 Jan 29.2 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
13 Jan 30.2 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
14 Jan 31.5 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Jan 32.6 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
16 Jan 32.5 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
17 Jan after 33.4 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
18 Jan after 34.1 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
19 Jan after 33.1 °C 20 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
20 Jan after 33.4 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Jan after 33.2 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
22 Jan after 33.2 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
23 Jan after 32.3 °C 11 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
24 Jan after 31.1 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
25 Jan after 30.7 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
26 Jan after 30.7 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 46.6, a minimum humidity of 17% and 56 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 40.

FWI at the start 46.6
Minimum humidity 17 %
Days without rain 56
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Raga fire, December 2019
6,695 ha 13 days FWI 47.7 Min. humidity 18 % 101 km away, in 2019

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

What happened to them

13 days
median duration
6,382 ha
median area
22 %
went past 10,000 ha
—
rain at the end (median; 0 of 40 had it)

It was 1.8 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 27 days, against 13 days.

Only 8 of its 40 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 none of them did 1 mm fall in the ten days after the end: they all went out without rain.

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
46km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 16 Jan, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. None of its 40 twins had rain when they ended.

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 · 14 Dec 2024
After · 23 Jan 2025

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 2 January 2025 the air beside the fire reached 42 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 32: 2.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak42 µg/m³
Days over the guideline19 days
PM10143 µg/m³
Optical depth0.44
25 Dec29 Dec2 Jan6 Jan10 Jan
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 553Every 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 Raga fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 21 December 2024 to 16 January 2025 (27 days). The perimeter dates it from 27 December 2024 to 10 January 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 11,306 hectares (113.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Raga (11,382 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.6 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, 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: 40. Their median duration was 13 days and their median area 6,382 ha; 22 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 8 of its 40 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 none of them did 1 mm fall in the ten days after the end: they all went out without rain.

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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 10 January 2025 → 16 January 2025.
  2. Start date: 27 December 2024 → 21 December 2024.

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
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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 27 December 2024 to 10 January 2025. 553 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 2025, 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.