Skip to content
worldfires
SS · South Sudan · →

Ulang fire, February 2017 Nyirol, Ulang

Out · last detection 4 Mar 2017, 11:25 UTC

The fire started on 19 February 2017 in Ulang, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,531 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 229th largest in Upper Nile since 2016 (of 284 with a page). Number 165 in South Sudan in 2017, of 203.

Burnt area
5,531ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
13days
19 Feb 2017 – 3 Mar 2017
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
19 Feb
2017
Heat detections
186
in a single hotspot: 74 MW
Danger at start
66
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
1.4GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

4 Mar 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Feb3 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

1920222324252627281234

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

The weather it burned in

42°high
53km/h · peak gust
5%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

93% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,920 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,163 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Nyirol
    2,827 ha reached on 19 Feb
    0.4 %
  2. Ulang where it started
    2,741 ha reached on 17 Feb
    0.6 %

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)
19 Feb 37.3 °C 13 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
20 Feb 39.2 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
21 Feb 37.4 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
22 Feb 38.3 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
23 Feb 37.2 °C 5 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
24 Feb 37.8 °C 5 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 79
25 Feb 38.6 °C 6 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 74
26 Feb 39.0 °C 9 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 70
27 Feb 40.0 °C 6 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
28 Feb 39.2 °C 14 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
1 Mar 40.4 °C 15 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
2 Mar 41.5 °C 8 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
3 Mar 41.4 °C 7 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
4 Mar after 41.7 °C 6 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
5 Mar after 41.7 °C 6 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
6 Mar after 42.4 °C 7 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 75
7 Mar after 42.6 °C 6 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 74
8 Mar after 42.6 °C 6 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 74
9 Mar after 42.6 °C 7 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
10 Mar after 40.8 °C 14 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
11 Mar after 42.5 °C 6 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
12 Mar after 42.6 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
13 Mar after 42.1 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Feb 2017
After · 10 Mar 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 · 186Every 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 Ulang fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 February 2017 and 3 March 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 5,531 hectares (55.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Nyirol (2,827 ha, 0.4 %); Ulang (2,741 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.5 °C, humidity dropped to 5 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 79, class Very 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.

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
What do you think is wrong?

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

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.