Sibbinda fire, June 2018 Sibbinda
The fire started on 15 June 2018 in Sibbinda, Namibia, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,695 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 29th largest in Zambezi since 2016 (of 107 with a page). Number 33 in Namibia in 2018, of 83.
- Burnt area
- 3,695ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 15 Jun 2018 – 21 Jun 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- constituencies
- Started on
- 15 Jun
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 98
- in a single hotspot: 155 MW
- Danger at start
- 29
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.6GW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
95% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,465 ha in 2016, 3,425 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,498 ha that had burned before.
- 2,774 ha Sibbinda fire, August 2017 5,849 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 641 ha Sibbinda fire, August 2016 2,018 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 534 ha Sibbinda fire, June 2017 2,054 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 126 ha Chobe fire, July 2016 2,200 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 17 ha Chobe fire, July 2017 4,680 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Sibbinda where it started3,717 ha reached on 15 Jun2.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Jun | 26.1 °C | 28 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 16 Jun | 26.7 °C | 22 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 17 Jun | 28.5 °C | 19 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 18 Jun | 27.3 °C | 23 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 19 Jun | 27.1 °C | 22 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 20 Jun | 27.7 °C | 25 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 21 Jun | 27.5 °C | 25 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 22 Jun after | 26.1 °C | 30 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 23 Jun after | 26.1 °C | 24 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 24 Jun after | 26.0 °C | 28 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 25 Jun after | 25.5 °C | 26 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 26 Jun after | 25.9 °C | 24 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 27 Jun after | 26.9 °C | 21 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 28 Jun after | 25.9 °C | 17 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 29 Jun after | 25.6 °C | 20 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 30 Jun after | 25.9 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 1 Jul after | 26.0 °C | 20 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
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 · 98Every 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 Sibbinda fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 June 2018 and 21 June 2018: 7 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 3,695 hectares (37.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Sibbinda (3,717 ha, 2.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.5 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Namibia (OCHA COD-AB). 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 OCHA COD-AB (Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA)) (Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-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.