Derre fire, September 2022 Morrumbala, Derre, Milange
The fire started on 30 September 2022 in Derre, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 47,144 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 30th largest in Zambézia since 2016 (of 845 with a page). Number 5 in Mozambique in 2022, of 206.
- Burnt area
- 47,144ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 20days
- 30 Sept 2022 – 19 Oct 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- districts
- Started on
- 30 Sept
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 3,647
- in a single hotspot: 203 MW
- Danger at start
- 39
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 38.1GW
- sum of detected power
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 15 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.1 mm on 29 Oct.
This area had burned before
95% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 26,306 ha in 2016, 18,355 ha in 2017, 24,997 ha in 2018, 23,617 ha in 2019, 19,820 ha in 2020, 15,499 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 44,698 ha that had burned before.
- 16,261 ha Morrumbala fire, September 2019 29,579 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 15,357 ha Derre fire, September 2016 116,560 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 9,511 ha Morrumbala fire, September 2020 33,528 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,563 ha Morrumbala fire, September 2018 38,678 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,535 ha Mocuba fire, September 2018 116,289 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,531 ha Morrumbala fire, September 2017 8,786 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,106 ha Milange fire, September 2017 12,648 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,402 ha Morrumbala fire, September 2018 13,593 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
31,753 ha reached on 24 Sept3.9 %
-
Derre where it started14,429 ha reached on 23 Sept3.0 %
-
1,156 ha reached on 28 Sept0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Sept | 33.5 °C | 24 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 1 Oct | 34.3 °C | 21 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 2 Oct | 34.6 °C | 25 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 3 Oct | 34.8 °C | 30 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 4 Oct | 37.3 °C | 21 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 5 Oct | 36.8 °C | 18 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 6 Oct | 36.4 °C | 22 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 7 Oct | 36.7 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 8 Oct | 33.4 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 39 |
| 9 Oct | 34.5 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 10 Oct | 34.8 °C | 27 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 11 Oct | 33.6 °C | 25 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 12 Oct | 33.8 °C | 26 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 13 Oct | 35.3 °C | 26 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 14 Oct | 36.4 °C | 19 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 15 Oct | 36.5 °C | 18 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 16 Oct | 35.0 °C | 21 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 17 Oct | 34.6 °C | 24 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 18 Oct | 33.4 °C | 31 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 19 Oct | 32.5 °C | 39 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 20 Oct after | 34.0 °C | 32 % | 31 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 35 |
| 21 Oct after | 35.1 °C | 25 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 22 Oct after | 37.0 °C | 21 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 23 Oct after | 36.9 °C | 24 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 24 Oct after | 37.8 °C | 22 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 25 Oct after | 36.8 °C | 26 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 26 Oct after | 38.6 °C | 21 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 27 Oct after | 39.1 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 28 Oct after | 38.7 °C | 20 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 29 Oct after | 31.4 °C | 49 % | 36 km/h | 3.1 mm | Low 11 |
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 · 3,647Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Derre fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 30 September 2022 and 19 October 2022: 20 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 47,144 hectares (471.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Morrumbala (31,753 ha, 3.9 %); Derre (14,429 ha, 3.0 %); Milange (1,156 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.3 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 53, class Extreme.
- 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
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.