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MZ · Mozambique · →

Derre fire, 21 August 2026 Derre, Morrumbala, Milange

Out · last detection 11 Sept 2026, 22:29 UTC

The fire started on 21 August 2026 in Derre, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 72,301 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 23th largest in Zambézia since 2016 (of 842 with a page). Number 14 in Mozambique in 2026, of 532.

Burnt area
72,301ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
21days
21 Aug 2026 – 10 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
21 Aug
2026
Heat detections
3,282
in a single hotspot: 327 MW
Danger at start
22
High · FWI index
Energy released
19.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

11 Sept 2026
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Aug10 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

2122232425262728303112345671011

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
45km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

98% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 34,022 ha in 2016, 28,167 ha in 2017, 26,177 ha in 2018, 26,505 ha in 2019, 20,215 ha in 2020, 21,152 ha in 2021, 35,998 ha in 2022, 21,458 ha in 2023, 18,222 ha in 2024, 44,449 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 70,624 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Derre where it started
    62,224 ha reached on 21 Aug
    13 %
  2. Morrumbala
    9,844 ha reached on 21 Aug
    1.2 %
  3. Milange
    544 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)
21 Aug 31.5 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
22 Aug 32.0 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
23 Aug 33.3 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
24 Aug 28.5 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
25 Aug 28.8 °C 40 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
26 Aug 29.9 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Aug 27.5 °C 39 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
28 Aug 27.3 °C 44 % 32 km/h 1.6 mm Moderate 14
29 Aug 26.9 °C 48 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
30 Aug 32.1 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
31 Aug 33.5 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
1 Sept 32.4 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
2 Sept 32.4 °C 25 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
3 Sept 33.3 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
4 Sept 34.8 °C 23 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
5 Sept 33.2 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
6 Sept 31.5 °C 35 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
7 Sept 29.6 °C 36 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm High 35
8 Sept 23.5 °C 56 % 42 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 16
9 Sept 24.5 °C 64 % 33 km/h 2.5 mm Low 6
10 Sept 30.0 °C 49 % 22 km/h 1.0 mm Low 10
11 Sept after 31.7 °C 43 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 21
12 Sept after 33.3 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
13 Sept after 33.1 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
14 Sept after 32.9 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
15 Sept after 35.1 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Sept after 34.8 °C 22 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
17 Sept after 35.7 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
18 Sept after 34.5 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
19 Sept after 31.6 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Sept after 32.6 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 14 Aug 2026
After · 17 Sept 2026

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 16 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 153 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 85: 5.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak153 µg/m³
Days over the guideline27 days
PM10156 µg/m³
Optical depth2.06
192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920
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 · 3,282Every 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 21 August 2026 and 10 September 2026: 21 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 72,301 hectares (723.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Derre (62,224 ha, 13 %); Morrumbala (9,844 ha, 1.2 %); Milange (544 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.8 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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.

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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.