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Bariadi fire, 21 September 2018 Bariadi, Itilima

Out · last detection 25 Sept 2018, 22:36 UTC

The fire started on 21 September 2018 in Bariadi, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,001 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 68th largest in Simiyu since 2016 (of 68 with a page). Number 72 in Tanzania in 2018, of 72.

Burnt area
3,001ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
21 Sept 2018 – 25 Sept 2018
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
21 Sept
2018
Heat detections
133
in a single hotspot: 34 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Energy released
620MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Sept 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Sept25 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

2122232425

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

The weather it burned in

29°high
48km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone 24 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. Bariadi where it started
    2,274 ha reached on 21 Sept
    0.4 %
  2. Itilima
    746 ha reached on 21 Sept
    0.2 %

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)
21 Sept 28.6 °C 21 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Sept 27.9 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
23 Sept 28.6 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Sept 28.1 °C 24 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Sept 27.7 °C 29 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
26 Sept after 28.2 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
27 Sept after 27.4 °C 30 % 45 km/h 0.1 mm High 37
28 Sept after 27.9 °C 31 % 46 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 38
29 Sept after 28.8 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
30 Sept after 29.5 °C 14 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
1 Oct after 29.0 °C 18 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
2 Oct after 26.6 °C 29 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
3 Oct after 26.9 °C 33 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Oct after 28.6 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
5 Oct after 28.9 °C 25 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 14 Sept 2018
After · 2 Oct 2018

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 · 133Every 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 Tanzania ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bariadi fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 September 2018 and 25 September 2018: 5 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 3,001 hectares (30.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bariadi (2,274 ha, 0.4 %); Itilima (746 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.6 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 48 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 Tanzania (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.

Emergency number: 112

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

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.