Wenbera fire, 2 April 2019 Wenbera
The fire started on 2 April 2019 in Wenbera, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,729 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 402th largest in Beneshangul Gumu since 2016 (of 699 with a page). Number 135 in Ethiopia in 2019, of 220.
- Burnt area
- 2,729ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 2 Apr 2019 – 5 Apr 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 2 Apr
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 59
- in a single hotspot: 62 MW
- Danger at start
- 60
- Extreme · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 109MW
- detected power per day, on average
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
54% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,160 ha in 2016, 298 ha in 2017, 899 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,469 ha that had burned before.
- 899 ha Wenbera fire, April 2018 3,575 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 416 ha Wenbera fire, April 2016 9,810 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 88 ha Wenbera fire, December 2017 2,704 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Wenbera where it started2,749 ha reached on 2 Apr0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Apr | 40.7 °C | 6 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 3 Apr | 40.6 °C | 8 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 4 Apr | 42.0 °C | 5 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 5 Apr | 41.8 °C | 9 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 6 Apr after | 42.2 °C | 5 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 7 Apr after | 42.2 °C | 8 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 8 Apr after | 42.8 °C | 11 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 9 Apr after | 41.3 °C | 16 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 10 Apr after | 41.7 °C | 14 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 11 Apr after | 39.7 °C | 24 % | 36 km/h | 0.2 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 12 Apr after | 38.1 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 0.7 mm | Very high 39 |
| 13 Apr after | 38.4 °C | 25 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 14 Apr after | 39.8 °C | 16 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 15 Apr after | 41.2 °C | 11 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
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 · 59Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 9,810 haWenbera4 April 2016 · 5 days · 9 km away
- 6,769 haWenbera4 February 2021 · 7 days · 17 km away
- 8,048 haWenbera12 March 2022 · 8 days · 33 km away
- 7,616 haGuba9 December 2020 · 11 days · 37 km away
- 10,661 haWenbera24 March 2022 · 3 days · 39 km away
- 8,523 haWenbera24 March 2021 · 5 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Wenbera fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 April 2019 and 5 April 2019: 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 2,729 hectares (27.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Wenbera (2,749 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 42.0 °C, humidity dropped to 5 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 62, class Extreme.
- 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.