Gorongosa fire, August 2023 Gorongosa, Macossa
The fire started on 18 August 2023 in Gorongosa, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,027 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 64th largest in Sofala since 2016 (of 214 with a page). Number 36 in Mozambique in 2023, of 128.
- Burnt area
- 6,027ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 9days
- 18 Aug 2023 – 26 Aug 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 18 Aug
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 210
- in a single hotspot: 197 MW
- Danger at start
- 14
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.9GW
- 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 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 16.4 mm on 27 Aug.
This area had burned before
76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,065 ha in 2017, 1,321 ha in 2018, 766 ha in 2019, 2,066 ha in 2020, 1,695 ha in 2021, 1,894 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,583 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Gorongosa where it started5,981 ha reached on 18 Aug0.9 %
-
71 ha reached on 20 Aug0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Aug | 28.3 °C | 39 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 19 Aug | 29.3 °C | 38 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 20 Aug | 30.6 °C | 40 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 21 Aug | 30.5 °C | 40 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 22 Aug | 32.5 °C | 27 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 23 Aug | 31.5 °C | 21 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 24 Aug | 31.8 °C | 31 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 25 Aug | 30.8 °C | 36 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 26 Aug | 34.1 °C | 29 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 27 Aug after | 23.4 °C | 45 % | 55 km/h | 16.4 mm | Very low 3 |
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 · 210Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 13,387 haGorongosa10 September 2025 · 16 days · 18 km away
- 8,858 haGorongosa13 September 2022 · 11 days · 23 km away
- 59,348 haGorongosa20 August 2025 · 40 days · 32 km away
- 11,928 haGorongosa8 September 2016 · 17 days · 32 km away
- 13,157 haGorongosa1 September 2023 · 12 days · 33 km away
- 22,610 haGorongosa24 September 2021 · 9 days · 35 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Gorongosa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 August 2023 and 26 August 2023: 9 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 6,027 hectares (60.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Gorongosa (5,981 ha, 0.9 %); Macossa (71 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.1 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, class 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
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.