Skip to content
worldfires
SS · South Sudan · →

Ulang fire, December 2018 Ulang, Akobo

Out · last detection 20 Dec 2018, 11:25 UTC

The fire started on 17 December 2018 in Ulang, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 8,768 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 102th largest in Upper Nile since 2016 (of 284 with a page). Number 43 in South Sudan in 2018, of 120.

Burnt area
8,768ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
17 Dec 2018 – 20 Dec 2018
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
17 Dec
2018
Heat detections
192
in a single hotspot: 38 MW
Danger at start
39
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
1.5GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

20 Dec 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Dec20 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

17181920

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

The weather it burned in

39°high
42km/h · peak gust
17%lowest humidity

It had gone 30 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

55% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,757 ha in 2016, 3,152 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,785 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Ulang where it started
    7,967 ha reached on 17 Dec
    1.6 %
  2. Akobo
    849 ha reached on 17 Dec
    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)
17 Dec 38.7 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Dec 37.8 °C 17 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
19 Dec 37.7 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
20 Dec 37.9 °C 20 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
21 Dec after 36.9 °C 23 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
22 Dec after 37.0 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
23 Dec after 37.3 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
24 Dec after 37.1 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
25 Dec after 37.1 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
26 Dec after 37.0 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Dec after 37.8 °C 22 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 Dec after 36.7 °C 21 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
29 Dec after 37.2 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
30 Dec after 35.8 °C 23 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 10 Dec 2018
After · 27 Dec 2018

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 · 192Every 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 17 December 2018 and 20 December 2018: 4 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 8,768 hectares (87.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ulang (7,967 ha, 1.6 %); Akobo (849 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.7 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 42 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 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.