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NG · Nigeria · –

Toungo fire, 23 January 2025 Toungo, Bali

Out · last detection 9 Feb 2025, 12:10 UTC

The fire started on 23 January 2025 in Toungo, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,844 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 6th largest in Adamawa since 2016 (of 23 with a page). Number 21 in Nigeria in 2025, of 67.

Burnt area
3,844ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
17days
23 Jan 2025 – 8 Feb 2025
Municipalities hit
2
local government areas
Started on
23 Jan
2025
Heat detections
182
in a single hotspot: 121 MW
Danger at start
43
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
99MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 23 Jan8 Feb
9 Feb 2025

How it evolved, day by day

23 Jan 2025 · 81 MW · 18 24 Jan 2025 · 41 MW · 10 25 Jan 2025 · 12 MW · 8 27 Jan 2025 · 40 MW · 19 28 Jan 2025 · 43 MW · 16 29 Jan 2025 · 33 MW · 8 30 Jan 2025 · 372 MW · 29 31 Jan 2025 · 674 MW · 46 1 Feb 2025 · 94 MW · 14 2 Feb 2025 · 19 MW · 4 3 Feb 2025 · 28 MW · 2 4 Feb 2025 · 1 MW · 1 6 Feb 2025 · 22 MW · 5 8 Feb 2025 · 13 MW · 1 9 Feb 2025 · 9 MW · 1
23 Jan 27 Jan 31 Jan 6 Feb

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

The weather it burned in

40°high
35km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

13% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 517 ha in 2024.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 2.4% of the area of London (38 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. Toungo where it started
    2,019 ha reached on 23 Jan
    0.4 %
  2. 1,851 ha reached on 24 Jan
    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 area0.44 ha
Residents≈ 80

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.44 hectares of built-up land and about 80 residents (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)

Started with 60 days without rain: 42 % of the area in Nigeria

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
23 Jan 37.8 °C 16 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
24 Jan 38.1 °C 14 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Jan 37.1 °C 16 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Jan 37.6 °C 18 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
27 Jan 36.9 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Jan 36.8 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Jan 36.8 °C 17 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
30 Jan 37.0 °C 15 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
31 Jan 36.4 °C 16 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Feb 37.1 °C 14 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
2 Feb 38.2 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
3 Feb 39.4 °C 17 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Feb 38.7 °C 14 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Feb 37.7 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
6 Feb 39.5 °C 11 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
7 Feb 38.6 °C 13 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
8 Feb 40.2 °C 13 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Feb after 39.9 °C 14 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
10 Feb after 39.9 °C 13 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
11 Feb after 39.0 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
12 Feb after 38.2 °C 14 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
13 Feb after 37.6 °C 16 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
14 Feb after 38.1 °C 13 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
15 Feb after 38.6 °C 12 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
16 Feb after 39.0 °C 9 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
17 Feb after 39.3 °C 13 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
18 Feb after 40.2 °C 12 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 43.4, a minimum humidity of 16% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 44.

FWI at the start 43.4
Minimum humidity 16 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Mayo-Baléo fire, January 2018
1,518 ha 7 days FWI 43.0 Min. humidity 16 % 83 km away, in 2018

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

What happened to them

7 days
median duration
1,656 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
6.5 mm
rain at the end (median; 1 of 44 had it)

It was 2.3 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 17 days, against 7 days.

None of its 44 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 43 of 44, 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 6.5 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
35km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 8 Feb, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 1 of 44, with a median of 6.5 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 · 16 Jan 2025
After · 15 Feb 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 29 January 2025 the air beside the fire reached 98 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 73: 4.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak98 µg/m³
Days over the guideline11 days
PM10377 µg/m³
Optical depth0.64
25 Jan28 Jan31 Jan3 Feb
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 · 182Every 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 Toungo fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 23 January 2025 to 8 February 2025 (17 days). The perimeter dates it from 27 January 2025 to 1 February 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,844 hectares (38.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Toungo (2,019 ha, 0.4 %); Bali (1,851 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 40.2 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, 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.
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: 44. Their median duration was 7 days and their median area 1,656 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. None of its 44 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 43 of 44, 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 6.5 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.

Emergency number: 112 · Emergency number and official warnings

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: 1 February 2025 → 8 February 2025.
  2. Start date: 27 January 2025 → 23 January 2025.

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?

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.

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 January 2025 to 1 February 2025. 182 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 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.