Bariadi fire, June 2021 Bariadi, Serengeti
The fire started on 25 June 2021 in Bariadi, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,599 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 18th largest in Simiyu since 2016 (of 68 with a page). Number 35 in Tanzania in 2021, of 135.
The power measured by the satellite is low (18.2 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 6,599ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 25 Jun 2021 – 27 Jun 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 25 Jun
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 204
- in a single hotspot: 18 MW
- Danger at start
- 24
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 867MW
- 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 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
94% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,134 ha in 2016, 1,346 ha in 2018, 1,333 ha in 2019, 5,067 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,236 ha that had burned before.
- 5,067 ha Serengeti fire, June 2020 33,514 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,894 ha Bariadi fire, June 2016 20,642 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,333 ha Bariadi fire, July 2019 3,732 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 146 ha Serengeti fire, July 2016 3,696 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 108 ha Serengeti fire, June 2018 12,489 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 95 ha Bariadi fire, July 2016 9,106 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 84 ha Bariadi fire, June 2018 5,292 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Bariadi where it started6,642 ha reached on 25 Jun1.2 %
-
1 ha reached on 27 Jun0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Jun | 27.5 °C | 32 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 26 Jun | 29.0 °C | 31 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 27 Jun | 28.5 °C | 34 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 28 Jun after | 28.0 °C | 36 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 29 Jun after | 27.0 °C | 38 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 30 Jun after | 26.4 °C | 38 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 1 Jul after | 28.0 °C | 36 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 2 Jul after | 29.4 °C | 34 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 3 Jul after | 27.4 °C | 40 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 4 Jul after | 28.2 °C | 37 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 5 Jul after | 28.6 °C | 37 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 6 Jul after | 28.0 °C | 35 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 7 Jul after | 27.7 °C | 34 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
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 · 204Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 33,514 haSerengeti25 June 2020 · 18 days · 8 km away
- 20,642 haBariadiJune 2016 · 16 days · 10 km away
- 13,929 haBariadiSeptember 2020 · 11 days · 13 km away
- 12,489 haSerengetiJune 2018 · 25 days · 16 km away
- 16,712 haSerengeti17 July 2020 · 10 days · 26 km away
- 15,277 haItilimaJuly 2019 · 8 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Bariadi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 June 2021 and 27 June 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 6,599 hectares (66.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bariadi (6,642 ha, 1.2 %); Serengeti (1 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.0 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 31 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 27, class 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
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.