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Derre fire, August 2023 Derre, Morrumbala

Out · last detection 27 Aug 2023, 11:38 UTC

The fire started on 20 August 2023 in Derre, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,151 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 768th largest in Zambézia since 2016 (of 845 with a page). Number 117 in Mozambique in 2023, of 128.

Burnt area
3,151ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
20 Aug 2023 – 27 Aug 2023
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
20 Aug
2023
Heat detections
74
in a single hotspot: 53 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Energy released
816MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

27 Aug 2023
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Aug27 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

2021222324252627

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
55km/h · peak gust
20%lowest humidity

It had gone 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

22% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 228 ha in 2016, 54 ha in 2018, 543 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 706 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Derre where it started
    2,873 ha reached on 16 Aug
    0.6 %
  2. Morrumbala
    294 ha reached on 16 Aug
    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)
20 Aug 31.8 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
21 Aug 32.1 °C 28 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Aug 33.7 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
23 Aug 34.0 °C 23 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Aug 33.8 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Aug 32.8 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Aug 34.3 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 Aug 32.5 °C 30 % 55 km/h 0.1 mm Extreme 53
28 Aug after 23.2 °C 55 % 56 km/h 0.8 mm High 26
29 Aug after 22.6 °C 51 % 36 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 17
30 Aug after 24.5 °C 45 % 24 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 18
31 Aug after 28.7 °C 36 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
1 Sept after 31.6 °C 30 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
2 Sept after 33.1 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Sept after 31.7 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 Sept after 33.2 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
5 Sept after 32.2 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
6 Sept after 34.1 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 13 Aug 2023
After · 3 Sept 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 · 74Every 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 20 August 2023 and 27 August 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 3,151 hectares (31.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Derre (2,873 ha, 0.6 %); Morrumbala (294 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.3 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 55 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.

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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 (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.