Bulilima fire, 4 September 2022 Bulilima
The fire started on 4 September 2022 in Bulilima, Zimbabwe, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,019 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 30th largest in Matabeleland South since 2016 (of 204 with a page). Number 51 in Zimbabwe in 2022, of 346.
- Burnt area
- 3,019ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 4 Sept 2022 – 6 Sept 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 4 Sept
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 98
- in a single hotspot: 99 MW
- Danger at start
- 44
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 608MW
- 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 44 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
49% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,480 ha in 2018.
What happened to each town
-
Bulilima where it started3,036 ha reached on 4 Sept0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Sept | 29.6 °C | 10 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 5 Sept | 32.8 °C | 5 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 6 Sept | 28.7 °C | 15 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 7 Sept after | 23.0 °C | 44 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 8 Sept after | 26.4 °C | 28 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 9 Sept after | 29.0 °C | 15 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 10 Sept after | 30.5 °C | 9 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 11 Sept after | 31.3 °C | 6 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 12 Sept after | 31.9 °C | 10 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 13 Sept after | 25.6 °C | 34 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 14 Sept after | 24.4 °C | 35 % | 57 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 15 Sept after | 25.6 °C | 26 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 16 Sept after | 29.0 °C | 12 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
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 · 98Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 4,667 haUmguza6 October 2022 · 8 days · 19 km away
- 5,249 haUmguza2 September 2018 · 5 days · 20 km away
- 3,398 haUmguza5 September 2022 · 2 days · 31 km away
- 3,823 haMangwe9 October 2018 · 4 days · 32 km away
- 23,606 haMangweOctober 2022 · 10 days · 34 km away
- 4,188 haMatoboOctober 2016 · 4 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Bulilima fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 4 September 2022 and 6 September 2022: 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 3,019 hectares (30.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Bulilima (3,036 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 5 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 64, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zimbabwe (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 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.