How long did the Chobe fire last?

GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 September 2024 and 20 September 2024: 18 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 13,135 hectares (131.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tutume (10,969 ha, 0.2 %); Chobe (2,168 ha, 0.1 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 37.1 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 73, class Very 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.

BW · Botswana · 2024-09-03 → 2024-09-20

Chobe fire, September 2024 Tutume, Chobe

Out · last detection 20 Sept 2024, 11:24 UTC

The fire started on 3 September 2024 in Chobe, Botswana, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 13,135 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 20th largest in Chobe since 2016 (of 129 with a page). Number 3 in Botswana in 2024, of 73.

Burnt area: 13,135ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 18days; 3 Sept 2024 – 20 Sept 2024
Municipalities hit: 2; subdistricts
Started on: 3 Sept; 2024
Heat detections: 467; in a single hotspot: 65 MW
Danger at start: 46; Very high · FWI index
Energy released: 6.0GW; sum of detected power

Play back 20 Sept 2024

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 3 Sept20 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

34567891011121314151617181920

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

60km/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

Tutume

10,969 ha reached on 6 Sept

0.2 %
Chobe where it started

2,168 ha reached on 3 Sept

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)
3 Sept	28.3 °C	13 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
4 Sept	28.0 °C	18 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
5 Sept	28.4 °C	16 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
6 Sept	30.6 °C	13 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
7 Sept	31.4 °C	14 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
8 Sept	32.1 °C	17 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 50
9 Sept	33.7 °C	16 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
10 Sept	33.8 °C	18 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
11 Sept	33.0 °C	19 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
12 Sept	33.5 °C	18 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
13 Sept	35.2 °C	16 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
14 Sept	36.2 °C	11 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
15 Sept	37.1 °C	13 %	51 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 64
16 Sept	36.8 °C	10 %	56 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 70
17 Sept	35.5 °C	13 %	60 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 73
18 Sept	36.6 °C	13 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62
19 Sept	36.8 °C	12 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
20 Sept	36.0 °C	12 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
21 Sept after	32.7 °C	21 %	39 km/h	0.2 mm	Extreme 52
22 Sept after	28.2 °C	36 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
23 Sept after	30.1 °C	33 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
24 Sept after	31.5 °C	28 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
25 Sept after	34.2 °C	20 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
26 Sept after	36.6 °C	18 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
27 Sept after	37.9 °C	14 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
28 Sept after	38.7 °C	11 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 64
29 Sept after	38.9 °C	11 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 64
30 Sept after	35.0 °C	14 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 27 Aug 2024

After · 27 Sept 2024

Before After

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 21 September 2024 the air beside the fire reached 37 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 23: 1.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak37 µg/m³

Days over the guideline6 days

PM1056 µg/m³

Optical depth1.26

WHO 15

1234567891011121314151617181920212223

Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 467Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Botswana ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Chobe fire last?: GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 September 2024 and 20 September 2024: 18 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 13,135 hectares (131.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tutume (10,969 ha, 0.2 %); Chobe (2,168 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 37.1 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 73, class Very 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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 (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.

Where it burned