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Shiroro fire, January 2017 Shiroro, Rafi

Out · last detection 29 Jan 2017, 13:45 UTC

The fire started on 16 January 2017 in Shiroro, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,740 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 28th largest in Niger since 2016 (of 271 with a page). Number 11 in Nigeria in 2017, of 143.

The power measured by the satellite is low (28.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
9,740ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
13days
16 Jan 2017 – 28 Jan 2017
Municipalities hit
2
local government areas
Started on
16 Jan
2017
Heat detections
412
in a single hotspot: 29 MW
Danger at start
46
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
1.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

29 Jan 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Jan28 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

1617181920212223242526272829

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
49km/h · peak gust
8%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

25% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,400 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Shiroro where it started
    9,259 ha reached on 16 Jan
    2.0 %
  2. Rafi
    555 ha reached on 17 Jan
    0.1 %

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)
16 Jan 32.8 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
17 Jan 33.2 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
18 Jan 34.1 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
19 Jan 34.4 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
20 Jan 33.5 °C 13 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
21 Jan 35.9 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 Jan 35.2 °C 21 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
23 Jan 36.3 °C 15 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
24 Jan 35.2 °C 12 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
25 Jan 34.7 °C 8 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
26 Jan 34.9 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
27 Jan 34.0 °C 13 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
28 Jan 34.6 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
29 Jan after 34.4 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
30 Jan after 33.8 °C 13 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
31 Jan after 34.2 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
1 Feb after 34.3 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
2 Feb after 34.4 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
3 Feb after 33.6 °C 13 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
4 Feb after 33.6 °C 8 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
5 Feb after 33.3 °C 7 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
6 Feb after 33.6 °C 9 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
7 Feb after 33.8 °C 9 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
8 Feb after 33.6 °C 5 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
9 Feb after 34.3 °C 8 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
10 Feb after 34.2 °C 10 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
11 Feb after 34.8 °C 5 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
12 Feb after 34.2 °C 7 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Jan 2017
After · 4 Feb 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 · 412Every 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 Nigeria ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Shiroro fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 January 2017 and 28 January 2017: 13 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 9,740 hectares (97.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Shiroro (9,259 ha, 2.0 %); Rafi (555 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.3 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Nigeria (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.

Emergency number: 112

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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We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

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 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.