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Wau fire, 2 December 2025 Wau, Nagero, Tambura

Out · last detection 21 Jan 2026, 23:24 UTC

The fire started on 2 December 2025 in Wau, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 50 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 106,438 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 7th largest in Western Bahr el Ghazal since 2016 (of 431 with a page). Number 8 in South Sudan in 2025, of 292.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Wau · 2016Wau · 2019Nagero · 2019Nagero · 2020

Burnt area
106,438ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
50days
2 Dec 2025 – 20 Jan 2026
Municipalities hit
3
counties
Started on
2 Dec
2025
Heat detections
3,765
in a single hotspot: 211 MW
Danger at start
42
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
756MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 2 Dec20 Jan
21 Jan 2026

How it evolved, day by day

2 Dec 2025 · 203 MW · 30 3 Dec 2025 · 105 MW · 14 4 Dec 2025 · 5 MW · 3 5 Dec 2025 · 41 MW · 8 6 Dec 2025 · 6 MW · 2 7 Dec 2025 · 232 MW · 27 8 Dec 2025 · 225 MW · 14 9 Dec 2025 · 1 MW · 1 10 Dec 2025 · 41 MW · 8 11 Dec 2025 · 267 MW · 31 12 Dec 2025 · 563 MW · 51 13 Dec 2025 · 2,191 MW · 158 14 Dec 2025 · 938 MW · 95 15 Dec 2025 · 1,312 MW · 101 16 Dec 2025 · 979 MW · 99 17 Dec 2025 · 1,382 MW · 160 18 Dec 2025 · 2,179 MW · 241 19 Dec 2025 · 1,532 MW · 188 20 Dec 2025 · 1,742 MW · 142 21 Dec 2025 · 954 MW · 97 22 Dec 2025 · 1,061 MW · 128 23 Dec 2025 · 1,295 MW · 124 24 Dec 2025 · 849 MW · 130 25 Dec 2025 · 1,647 MW · 109 26 Dec 2025 · 440 MW · 47 27 Dec 2025 · 1,194 MW · 93 28 Dec 2025 · 185 MW · 32 29 Dec 2025 · 837 MW · 114 30 Dec 2025 · 2,269 MW · 109 31 Dec 2025 · 21 MW · 2 1 Jan 2026 · 284 MW · 40 2 Jan 2026 · 1,860 MW · 206 3 Jan 2026 · 697 MW · 110 4 Jan 2026 · 2,705 MW · 239 5 Jan 2026 · 1,377 MW · 102 6 Jan 2026 · 541 MW · 64 7 Jan 2026 · 1,583 MW · 119 8 Jan 2026 · 1,118 MW · 235 9 Jan 2026 · 603 MW · 89 11 Jan 2026 · 169 MW · 26 12 Jan 2026 · 85 MW · 14 13 Jan 2026 · 27 MW · 8 14 Jan 2026 · 108 MW · 29 15 Jan 2026 · 163 MW · 44 17 Jan 2026 · 15 MW · 3 19 Jan 2026 · 100 MW · 25 20 Jan 2026 · 168 MW · 49 21 Jan 2026 · 3 MW · 5
2 Dec 9 Dec 16 Dec 23 Dec 30 Dec 4 Jan 6 Jan 14 Jan

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
41km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 26 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

98% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 103,166 ha in 2016, 39,829 ha in 2017, 15,378 ha in 2018, 53,953 ha in 2019, 42,534 ha in 2020, 22,862 ha in 2021, 32,732 ha in 2022, 22,362 ha in 2023, 16,064 ha in 2024, 15,261 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 103,999 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 67% of the area of London (1,064 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. Wau where it started
    63,183 ha reached on 2 Dec
    3.3 %
  2. Nagero
    34,739 ha reached on 13 Dec
    3.8 %
  3. Tambura
    9,164 ha reached on 19 Dec
    0.7 %

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 area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
2 Dec 35.9 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
3 Dec 35.0 °C 20 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
4 Dec 35.8 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
5 Dec 34.6 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
6 Dec 34.6 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
7 Dec 34.6 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 38
8 Dec 36.0 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 40
9 Dec 33.4 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
10 Dec 33.5 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
11 Dec 33.4 °C 21 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Dec 33.7 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Dec 33.1 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
14 Dec 33.2 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Dec 32.9 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
16 Dec 31.5 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
17 Dec 32.3 °C 18 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
18 Dec 32.3 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
19 Dec 32.6 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
20 Dec 33.3 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
21 Dec 34.5 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
22 Dec 33.7 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
23 Dec 33.2 °C 28 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Dec 35.1 °C 22 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
25 Dec 35.0 °C 17 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
26 Dec 35.0 °C 17 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Dec 36.0 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
28 Dec 33.4 °C 14 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
29 Dec 33.1 °C 13 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
30 Dec 32.9 °C 18 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
31 Dec 32.2 °C 12 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Jan 34.0 °C 13 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
2 Jan 35.6 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
3 Jan 35.3 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Jan 35.1 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Jan 35.2 °C 16 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
6 Jan 35.0 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
7 Jan 35.1 °C 18 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Jan 36.2 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Jan 35.8 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
10 Jan 34.1 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
11 Jan 34.4 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
12 Jan 35.6 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
13 Jan 34.9 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
14 Jan 34.0 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
15 Jan 33.5 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
16 Jan 33.4 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
17 Jan 35.0 °C 14 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
18 Jan 35.5 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
19 Jan 36.0 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
20 Jan 36.1 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
21 Jan after 36.4 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
22 Jan after 37.5 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
23 Jan after 36.8 °C 19 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Jan after 37.7 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
25 Jan after 37.8 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
26 Jan after 37.7 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
27 Jan after 37.0 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
28 Jan after 35.4 °C 14 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
29 Jan after 35.8 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
30 Jan after 36.6 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 25 Nov 2025
After · 27 Jan 2026

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 16 December 2025 the air beside the fire reached 98 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 59: 3.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak98 µg/m³
Days over the guideline41 days
PM10142 µg/m³
Optical depth0.94
7891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303112345678910111213141516
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 · 3,765Every 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 Wau fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 2 December 2025 to 20 January 2026 (50 days). The perimeter dates it from 9 December 2025 to 13 January 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 106,438 hectares (1,064.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Wau (63,183 ha, 3.3 %); Nagero (34,739 ha, 3.8 %); Tambura (9,164 ha, 0.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.2 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, 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

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: 13 January 2026 → 20 January 2026.
  2. Start date: 9 December 2025 → 2 December 2025.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 8 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 9 December 2025 to 13 January 2026. 3,765 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 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.