Wemberma fire, December 2021 Wemberma, Kiremu
The fire started on 20 December 2021 in Wemberma, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,659 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 63th largest in Amhara since 2016 (of 171 with a page). Number 98 in Ethiopia in 2021, of 255.
- Burnt area
- 3,659ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 20 Dec 2021 – 22 Dec 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 20 Dec
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 101
- in a single hotspot: 51 MW
- Danger at start
- 25
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 931MW
- 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 34 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
85% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,910 ha in 2016, 1,018 ha in 2017, 7 ha in 2018, 271 ha in 2019, 473 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,107 ha that had burned before.
- 2,018 ha Wemberma fire, January 2016 13,228 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 999 ha Wemberma fire, January 2017 4,201 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 271 ha Wemberma fire, January 2019 2,497 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 85 ha Yaso fire, January 2020 6,825 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 19 ha Kiremu fire, December 2017 6,755 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1 ha Yaso fire, November 2016 2,515 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Wemberma where it started3,618 ha reached on 20 Dec2.7 %
-
62 ha0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Dec | 32.2 °C | 36 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 21 Dec | 32.5 °C | 36 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 22 Dec | 32.8 °C | 29 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 23 Dec after | 33.7 °C | 25 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 24 Dec after | 32.7 °C | 31 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 25 Dec after | 32.7 °C | 32 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 26 Dec after | 32.8 °C | 30 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 27 Dec after | 32.7 °C | 32 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 28 Dec after | 32.8 °C | 26 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 29 Dec after | 31.4 °C | 35 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 30 Dec after | 32.2 °C | 41 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 31 Dec after | 31.0 °C | 34 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 1 Jan after | 31.4 °C | 30 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
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.
Detections table · 101Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Wemberma fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 December 2021 and 22 December 2021: 3 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 3,659 hectares (36.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Wemberma (3,618 ha, 2.7 %); Kiremu (62 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ethiopia (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 ADM3 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.