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Wau fire, 6 December 2025 Wau, Tambura, Raga

Out · last detection 27 Jan 2026, 12:15 UTC

The fire started on 6 December 2025 in Wau, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 53 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 203,534 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 2th largest in Western Bahr el Ghazal since 2016 (of 430 with a page). The largest in South Sudan in 2025, of 292.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Tambura · 2016Tambura · 2020Wau · 2019Wau · 2016

Burnt area
203,534ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
53days
6 Dec 2025 – 27 Jan 2026
Municipalities hit
3
counties
Started on
6 Dec
2025
Heat detections
6,536
in a single hotspot: 223 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Average daily power
980MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Dec27 Jan
27 Jan 2026

How it evolved, day by day

6 Dec 2025 · 63 MW · 8 7 Dec 2025 · 255 MW · 31 8 Dec 2025 · 44 MW · 6 9 Dec 2025 · 92 MW · 10 10 Dec 2025 · 42 MW · 9 11 Dec 2025 · 218 MW · 26 12 Dec 2025 · 151 MW · 23 13 Dec 2025 · 605 MW · 67 14 Dec 2025 · 1,234 MW · 98 15 Dec 2025 · 198 MW · 33 16 Dec 2025 · 382 MW · 54 17 Dec 2025 · 841 MW · 135 18 Dec 2025 · 1,053 MW · 125 19 Dec 2025 · 1,229 MW · 221 20 Dec 2025 · 1,273 MW · 146 21 Dec 2025 · 1,751 MW · 165 22 Dec 2025 · 878 MW · 126 23 Dec 2025 · 1,088 MW · 114 24 Dec 2025 · 1,175 MW · 108 25 Dec 2025 · 1,976 MW · 154 26 Dec 2025 · 1,224 MW · 174 27 Dec 2025 · 1,790 MW · 215 28 Dec 2025 · 411 MW · 68 29 Dec 2025 · 746 MW · 133 30 Dec 2025 · 17 MW · 23 31 Dec 2025 · 132 MW · 37 1 Jan 2026 · 1,026 MW · 90 2 Jan 2026 · 3,604 MW · 300 3 Jan 2026 · 3,060 MW · 302 4 Jan 2026 · 3,804 MW · 574 5 Jan 2026 · 2,035 MW · 225 6 Jan 2026 · 2,539 MW · 235 7 Jan 2026 · 2,122 MW · 267 8 Jan 2026 · 1,614 MW · 362 9 Jan 2026 · 4,194 MW · 589 10 Jan 2026 · 722 MW · 124 11 Jan 2026 · 1,385 MW · 164 12 Jan 2026 · 802 MW · 136 13 Jan 2026 · 860 MW · 138 14 Jan 2026 · 296 MW · 111 15 Jan 2026 · 283 MW · 60 16 Jan 2026 · 12 MW · 12 17 Jan 2026 · 2,784 MW · 152 18 Jan 2026 · 433 MW · 91 19 Jan 2026 · 513 MW · 78 20 Jan 2026 · 465 MW · 94 21 Jan 2026 · 187 MW · 56 22 Jan 2026 · 23 MW · 4 23 Jan 2026 · 57 MW · 10 24 Jan 2026 · 79 MW · 13 25 Jan 2026 · 83 MW · 15 26 Jan 2026 · 46 MW · 10 27 Jan 2026 · 53 MW · 15
6 Dec 14 Dec 22 Dec 30 Dec 7 Jan 9 Jan 15 Jan 23 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

37°high
42km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

99% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 144,660 ha in 2016, 66,523 ha in 2017, 77,702 ha in 2018, 97,084 ha in 2019, 77,348 ha in 2020, 78,387 ha in 2021, 83,252 ha in 2022, 14,317 ha in 2023, 134,341 ha in 2024, 12,114 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 201,969 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.3 times the area of London (2,035 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
    107,918 ha reached on 6 Dec
    5.6 %
  2. Tambura
    46,097 ha reached on 18 Dec
    3.7 %
  3. Raga
    45,499 ha reached on 7 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)
6 Dec 33.1 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
7 Dec 35.3 °C 21 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Dec 35.2 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
9 Dec 32.5 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
10 Dec 32.6 °C 20 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
11 Dec 32.8 °C 21 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Dec 33.4 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Dec 32.9 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
14 Dec 32.7 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Dec 32.5 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
16 Dec 30.7 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
17 Dec 31.7 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
18 Dec 32.0 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
19 Dec 32.4 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
20 Dec 33.1 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
21 Dec 34.0 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Dec 33.6 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
23 Dec 32.0 °C 26 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
24 Dec 34.5 °C 20 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Dec 34.7 °C 17 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
26 Dec 34.6 °C 17 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 Dec 35.6 °C 16 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
28 Dec 33.7 °C 12 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
29 Dec 33.4 °C 12 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 Dec 32.6 °C 15 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
31 Dec 31.0 °C 12 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Jan 33.7 °C 12 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Jan 35.0 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Jan 34.3 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
4 Jan 34.8 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
5 Jan 35.0 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
6 Jan 34.7 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
7 Jan 34.6 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Jan 35.6 °C 16 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
9 Jan 35.3 °C 18 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
10 Jan 33.7 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
11 Jan 34.2 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
12 Jan 35.0 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
13 Jan 34.3 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
14 Jan 33.3 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
15 Jan 33.1 °C 18 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
16 Jan 33.0 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
17 Jan 34.9 °C 14 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
18 Jan 35.3 °C 14 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
19 Jan 35.6 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
20 Jan 35.6 °C 15 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
21 Jan 36.0 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
22 Jan 36.7 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
23 Jan 36.0 °C 19 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
24 Jan 37.0 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
25 Jan 37.3 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
26 Jan 37.4 °C 12 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
27 Jan 36.7 °C 13 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
28 Jan after 34.9 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
29 Jan after 35.1 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
30 Jan after 36.0 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
31 Jan after 36.5 °C 14 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
1 Feb after 34.5 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
2 Feb after 35.5 °C 14 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Feb after 36.6 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
4 Feb after 36.7 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
5 Feb after 37.0 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
6 Feb after 34.9 °C 18 % 23 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 · 29 Nov 2025
After · 3 Feb 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 97 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 59: 3.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak97 µg/m³
Days over the guideline43 days
PM10138 µg/m³
Optical depth0.80
101112131415161718192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223
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 · 6,536Every 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 6 December 2025 to 27 January 2026 (53 days). The perimeter dates it from 12 December 2025 to 20 January 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 203,534 hectares (2,035.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Wau (107,918 ha, 5.6 %); Tambura (46,097 ha, 3.7 %); Raga (45,499 ha, 0.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.4 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, 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: 20 January 2026 → 27 January 2026.
  2. Start date: 12 December 2025 → 6 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; 9 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 12 December 2025 to 20 January 2026. 6,536 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.