Skip to content
worldfires
BW · Botswana · →

Chobe fire, 21 September 2023 Chobe, Ngamiland East

Out · last detection 28 Sept 2023, 11:37 UTC

The fire started on 21 September 2023 in Chobe, Botswana, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,322 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 82th largest in Chobe since 2016 (of 129 with a page). Number 181 in Botswana in 2023, of 381.

The power measured by the satellite is low (23.2 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
3,322ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
21 Sept 2023 – 28 Sept 2023
Municipalities hit
2
subdistricts
Started on
21 Sept
2023
Heat detections
190
in a single hotspot: 23 MW
Danger at start
51
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
1.1GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

28 Sept 2023
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Sept28 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

2122232425262728

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
45km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months 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. Chobe where it started
    2,195 ha reached on 19 Sept
    0.1 %
  2. Ngamiland East
    1,149 ha reached on 22 Sept
    0.0 %

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)
21 Sept 36.9 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Sept 37.1 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
23 Sept 37.1 °C 10 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
24 Sept 37.5 °C 14 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
25 Sept 35.8 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
26 Sept 29.2 °C 13 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
27 Sept 32.1 °C 11 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
28 Sept 33.4 °C 12 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
29 Sept after 34.5 °C 14 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
30 Sept after 37.4 °C 9 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
1 Oct after 38.6 °C 14 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
2 Oct after 37.0 °C 20 % 46 km/h 0.1 mm Extreme 61
3 Oct after 34.6 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
4 Oct after 35.4 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
5 Oct after 35.8 °C 10 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
6 Oct after 36.8 °C 10 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
7 Oct after 38.2 °C 9 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
8 Oct after 39.6 °C 11 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 14 Sept 2023
After · 5 Oct 2023

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 · 190Every 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 Botswana ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Chobe fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 September 2023 and 28 September 2023: 8 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 3,322 hectares (33.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Chobe (2,195 ha, 0.1 %); Ngamiland East (1,149 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.5 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 63, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Botswana (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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

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 (Public Domain). 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.