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Chunya fire, September 2016 Chunya, Mbarali

Out · last detection 16 Sept 2016, 10:49 UTC

The fire started on 13 September 2016 in Chunya, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,819 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 87th largest in Mbeya since 2016 (of 147 with a page). Number 102 in Tanzania in 2016, of 160.

Burnt area
3,819ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
13 Sept 2016 – 16 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
13 Sept
2016
Heat detections
103
in a single hotspot: 66 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.2GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

16 Sept 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Sept16 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

13141516

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

The weather it burned in

28°high
37km/h · peak gust
25%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. Chunya where it started
    3,573 ha reached on 13 Sept
    0.2 %
  2. Mbarali
    270 ha reached on 13 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)
13 Sept 26.8 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
14 Sept 26.8 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
15 Sept 27.5 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
16 Sept 27.6 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
17 Sept after 27.5 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Sept after 27.3 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 Sept after 25.5 °C 24 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
20 Sept after 25.1 °C 29 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Sept after 25.0 °C 28 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
22 Sept after 26.2 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
23 Sept after 27.1 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
24 Sept after 26.9 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 Sept after 26.5 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
26 Sept after 26.8 °C 22 % 44 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 · 6 Sept 2016
After · 23 Sept 2016

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 · 103Every 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 Chunya fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 13 September 2016 and 16 September 2016: 4 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 3,819 hectares (38.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Chunya (3,573 ha, 0.2 %); Mbarali (270 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 27.6 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, 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
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.