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Wulu fire, 12 December 2016 Wulu, Ibba

Out · last detection 25 Dec 2016, 23:56 UTC

The fire started on 12 December 2016 in Wulu, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 61,053 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the largest fire in Lakes since 2016 (of 158 with a page). Number 9 in South Sudan in 2016, of 244.

Burnt area
61,053ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
13days
12 Dec 2016 – 24 Dec 2016
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
12 Dec
2016
Heat detections
2,508
in a single hotspot: 339 MW
Danger at start
25
High · FWI index
Energy released
22.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Dec 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Dec24 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

12131415161718192021222325

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
45km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Wulu where it started
    60,105 ha reached on 5 Dec
    5.0 %
  2. Ibba
    1,316 ha reached on 8 Dec
    0.1 %

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)
12 Dec 33.8 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
13 Dec 33.7 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
14 Dec 33.5 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.3 mm High 24
15 Dec 32.5 °C 40 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
16 Dec 34.2 °C 28 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
17 Dec 35.1 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
18 Dec 35.0 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Dec 35.7 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
20 Dec 35.6 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
21 Dec 35.6 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Dec 35.6 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
23 Dec 36.6 °C 23 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
24 Dec 36.8 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
25 Dec after 36.9 °C 23 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
26 Dec after 35.5 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 Dec after 35.5 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
28 Dec after 35.5 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
29 Dec after 36.8 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Dec after 36.8 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
31 Dec after 37.3 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Jan after 37.2 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
2 Jan after 36.5 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Jan after 36.6 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Dec 2016
After · 31 Dec 2016

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 · 2,508Every 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 Wulu fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 December 2016 and 24 December 2016: 13 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 61,053 hectares (610.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Wulu (60,105 ha, 5.0 %); Ibba (1,316 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very high.
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.

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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.