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Govuro fire, September 2018 Govuro, Mabote

Out · last detection 25 Sept 2018, 11:30 UTC

The fire started on 19 September 2018 in Govuro, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,495 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 15th largest in Inhambane since 2016 (of 26 with a page). Number 151 in Mozambique in 2018, of 220.

Burnt area
3,495ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
19 Sept 2018 – 24 Sept 2018
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
19 Sept
2018
Heat detections
146
in a single hotspot: 149 MW
Danger at start
51
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
2.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Sept 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Sept24 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

19202122232425

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
50km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.6 mm on 4 Oct.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Govuro where it started
    2,577 ha reached on 18 Sept
    0.6 %
  2. Mabote
    932 ha reached on 22 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)
19 Sept 36.2 °C 24 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
20 Sept 33.8 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
21 Sept 32.4 °C 36 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Sept 32.9 °C 35 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
23 Sept 32.1 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
24 Sept 33.1 °C 30 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
25 Sept after 33.0 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
26 Sept after 35.1 °C 37 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 Sept after 34.6 °C 42 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Sept after 34.4 °C 34 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Sept after 35.2 °C 31 % 54 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 49
30 Sept after 27.1 °C 40 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
1 Oct after 29.5 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
2 Oct after 32.0 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
3 Oct after 36.3 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Oct after 23.6 °C 64 % 49 km/h 2.6 mm Low 11

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Sept 2018
After · 1 Oct 2018

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 · 146Every 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 Govuro fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 September 2018 and 24 September 2018: 6 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 3,495 hectares (35.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Govuro (2,577 ha, 0.6 %); Mabote (932 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.2 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, 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.