Ghanzi fire, July 2024 Ghanzi
The fire started on 12 July 2024 in Ghanzi, Botswana, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,698 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 331th largest in Ghanzi since 2016 (of 450 with a page). Number 48 in Botswana in 2024, of 73.
We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.
- Burnt area
- 2,698ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 12 Jul 2024 – 14 Jul 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- subdistricts
- Started on
- 12 Jul
- 2024
- Danger at start
- 55
- Extreme · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
73% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 311 ha in 2017, 1,500 ha in 2020, 953 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,982 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Ghanzi where it started2,732 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Jul | 26.8 °C | 9 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 13 Jul | 27.7 °C | 9 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 14 Jul | 22.9 °C | 18 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 15 Jul after | 24.3 °C | 12 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 16 Jul after | 26.7 °C | 11 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 17 Jul after | 28.9 °C | 8 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 18 Jul after | 28.6 °C | 7 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 19 Jul after | 26.6 °C | 11 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 20 Jul after | 24.4 °C | 14 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 21 Jul after | 25.3 °C | 12 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 22 Jul after | 29.0 °C | 11 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 23 Jul after | 30.1 °C | 8 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 24 Jul after | 27.4 °C | 6 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 13 July 2024 the air beside the fire reached 13 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
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)
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ghanzi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 July 2024 and 14 July 2024: 3 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 2,698 hectares (27.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Ghanzi (2,732 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 27.7 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Botswana (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 (Public Domain). 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.