Ulang fire, January 2026 Ulang, Akobo
The fire started on 3 January 2026 in Ulang, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 13,616 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 48th largest in Upper Nile since 2016 (of 284 with a page). Number 31 in South Sudan in 2026, of 182.
- Burnt area
- 13,616ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 15days
- 3 Jan 2026 – 17 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- counties
- Started on
- 3 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 335
- in a single hotspot: 32 MW
- Danger at start
- 45
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.1GW
- 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
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,478 ha in 2016, 1,559 ha in 2017, 10,654 ha in 2018, 2,862 ha in 2019, 400 ha in 2020, 12,832 ha in 2022, 4,190 ha in 2023, 11,686 ha in 2024, 8,362 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 13,688 ha that had burned before.
- 12,832 ha Akobo fire, January 2022 63,860 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 11,686 ha Nyirol fire, January 2024 77,472 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,140 ha Ulang fire, December 2017 35,904 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,930 ha Ulang fire, February 2025 10,468 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 451 ha Ulang fire, March 2023 5,101 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 77 ha Akobo fire, February 2023 14,816 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Ulang where it started10,747 ha reached on 3 Jan2.2 %
-
2,957 ha reached on 4 Jan0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan | 36.5 °C | 16 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 4 Jan | 36.3 °C | 18 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 5 Jan | 36.2 °C | 19 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 6 Jan | 37.3 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 7 Jan | 36.7 °C | 19 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 8 Jan | 37.5 °C | 17 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 9 Jan | 38.3 °C | 17 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 10 Jan | 36.5 °C | 15 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 11 Jan | 36.5 °C | 17 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 12 Jan | 36.5 °C | 20 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 13 Jan | 37.5 °C | 19 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 14 Jan | 36.6 °C | 19 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 15 Jan | 35.9 °C | 23 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 16 Jan | 34.3 °C | 21 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 17 Jan | 35.5 °C | 18 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 18 Jan after | 37.1 °C | 18 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 19 Jan after | 37.4 °C | 17 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 20 Jan after | 38.4 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 21 Jan after | 37.7 °C | 19 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 22 Jan after | 38.1 °C | 17 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 23 Jan after | 38.1 °C | 17 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 24 Jan after | 39.5 °C | 12 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 25 Jan after | 40.7 °C | 10 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 26 Jan after | 39.9 °C | 13 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 27 Jan after | 39.6 °C | 12 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 13 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 50 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 28: 1.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 335Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 63,860 haAkobo24 January 2022 · 30 days · 5 km away
- 32,732 haUlang16 February 2025 · 32 days · 13 km away
- 77,472 haNyirol4 January 2024 · 28 days · 14 km away
- 129,779 haUlangDecember 2016 · 40 days · 26 km away
- 35,904 haUlangDecember 2017 · 17 days · 26 km away
- 58,283 haUlangJanuary 2019 · 26 days · 27 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ulang fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 January 2026 and 17 January 2026: 15 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 13,616 hectares (136.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ulang (10,747 ha, 2.2 %); Akobo (2,957 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.3 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 59, 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
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.