Skip to content
worldfires
MZ · Mozambique · →

Derre fire, 2 September 2018 Derre

Out · last detection 13 Sept 2018, 11:56 UTC

The fire started on 2 September 2018 in Derre, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,162 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 762th largest in Zambézia since 2016 (of 845 with a page). Number 190 in Mozambique in 2018, of 220.

Burnt area
3,162ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
11days
2 Sept 2018 – 12 Sept 2018
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
2 Sept
2018
Heat detections
157
in a single hotspot: 93 MW
Danger at start
31
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

13 Sept 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 2 Sept12 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

234567891213

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

The weather it burned in

35°high
51km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,721 ha in 2016, 1,410 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,401 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Derre where it started
    3,176 ha reached on 28 Aug
    0.7 %

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)
2 Sept 33.1 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
3 Sept 33.6 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
4 Sept 34.9 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
5 Sept 34.1 °C 28 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
6 Sept 34.2 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
7 Sept 33.2 °C 24 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
8 Sept 34.1 °C 25 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
9 Sept 35.1 °C 22 % 51 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 45
10 Sept 22.1 °C 61 % 39 km/h 3.7 mm Low 5
11 Sept 26.3 °C 51 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
12 Sept 31.1 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
13 Sept after 34.3 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
14 Sept after 35.0 °C 27 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
15 Sept after 36.0 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Sept after 36.3 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
17 Sept after 34.9 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
18 Sept after 36.1 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
19 Sept after 35.8 °C 22 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
20 Sept after 36.9 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
21 Sept after 34.4 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
22 Sept after 31.9 °C 33 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 37

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 26 Aug 2018
After · 19 Sept 2018

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 · 157Every 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 Mozambique ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Derre fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 September 2018 and 12 September 2018: 11 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 3,162 hectares (31.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Derre (3,176 ha, 0.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.1 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mozambique (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 (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.