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Hurungwe fire, 2 September 2018 Hurungwe, Mbire

Out · last detection 15 Oct 2018, 11:56 UTC

The fire started on 2 September 2018 in Hurungwe, Zimbabwe, and satellites saw it burning for 44 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 33,869 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 2th largest in Mashonaland West since 2016 (of 823 with a page). The largest in Zimbabwe in 2018, of 265.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Hurungwe · 2016Hurungwe · 2016Hurungwe · 2016Hurungwe · 2016

Burnt area
33,869ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
44days
2 Sept 2018 – 15 Oct 2018
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
2 Sept
2018
Heat detections
1,672
in a single hotspot: 51 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Average daily power
184MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 2 Sept15 Oct
15 Oct 2018

How it evolved, day by day

2 Sept 2018 · 147 MW · 27 3 Sept 2018 · 176 MW · 35 4 Sept 2018 · 115 MW · 28 5 Sept 2018 · 25 MW · 4 6 Sept 2018 · 62 MW · 6 7 Sept 2018 · 53 MW · 13 8 Sept 2018 · 79 MW · 10 9 Sept 2018 · 60 MW · 11 10 Sept 2018 · 43 MW · 8 11 Sept 2018 · 124 MW · 28 12 Sept 2018 · 148 MW · 41 13 Sept 2018 · 522 MW · 100 14 Sept 2018 · 718 MW · 97 15 Sept 2018 · 490 MW · 60 16 Sept 2018 · 282 MW · 83 17 Sept 2018 · 383 MW · 83 18 Sept 2018 · 682 MW · 143 19 Sept 2018 · 757 MW · 146 20 Sept 2018 · 833 MW · 121 21 Sept 2018 · 223 MW · 49 22 Sept 2018 · 230 MW · 49 23 Sept 2018 · 142 MW · 54 24 Sept 2018 · 72 MW · 20 25 Sept 2018 · 37 MW · 9 26 Sept 2018 · 12 MW · 2 27 Sept 2018 · 7 MW · 2 28 Sept 2018 · 22 MW · 6 29 Sept 2018 · 263 MW · 80 30 Sept 2018 · 271 MW · 41 1 Oct 2018 · 36 MW · 7 2 Oct 2018 · 45 MW · 18 3 Oct 2018 · 3 MW · 3 4 Oct 2018 · 10 MW · 2 6 Oct 2018 · 6 MW · 4 7 Oct 2018 · 84 MW · 26 8 Oct 2018 · 217 MW · 28 9 Oct 2018 · 10 MW · 6 10 Oct 2018 · 111 MW · 28 11 Oct 2018 · 121 MW · 20 12 Oct 2018 · 48 MW · 9 13 Oct 2018 · 110 MW · 22 14 Oct 2018 · 20 MW · 5 15 Oct 2018 · 100 MW · 8
2 Sept 9 Sept 16 Sept 20 Sept 23 Sept 30 Sept 8 Oct 15 Oct

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
77km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone 56 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

11% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,805 ha in 2016.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 21% of the area of London (339 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Hurungwe where it started
    29,532 ha reached on 26 Aug
    1.5 %
  2. Mbire
    4,409 ha reached on 30 Aug
    0.9 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area 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)
2 Sept 30.5 °C 31 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
3 Sept 32.2 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Sept 33.3 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Sept 33.0 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Sept 33.8 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Sept 34.2 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Sept 34.0 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
9 Sept 34.3 °C 25 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
10 Sept 27.9 °C 33 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Sept 28.2 °C 35 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
12 Sept 30.9 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Sept 33.0 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
14 Sept 34.3 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
15 Sept 34.0 °C 22 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
16 Sept 34.4 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Sept 34.6 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
18 Sept 35.8 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
19 Sept 35.4 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
20 Sept 34.7 °C 19 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
21 Sept 32.4 °C 29 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
22 Sept 32.6 °C 22 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
23 Sept 31.3 °C 24 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
24 Sept 32.7 °C 26 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 Sept 33.5 °C 23 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
26 Sept 35.0 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Sept 36.5 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
28 Sept 35.1 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
29 Sept 35.1 °C 21 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
30 Sept 30.5 °C 32 % 77 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
1 Oct 28.0 °C 34 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Oct 30.1 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Oct 33.3 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
4 Oct 33.9 °C 24 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Oct 29.4 °C 35 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
6 Oct 30.4 °C 29 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Oct 31.0 °C 23 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
8 Oct 30.6 °C 19 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Oct 30.1 °C 23 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
10 Oct 31.6 °C 25 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
11 Oct 33.6 °C 23 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
12 Oct 35.8 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
13 Oct 35.8 °C 21 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
14 Oct 33.6 °C 30 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
15 Oct 37.1 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
16 Oct after 34.8 °C 25 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
17 Oct after 35.9 °C 27 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
18 Oct after 38.6 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
19 Oct after 32.2 °C 33 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
20 Oct after 31.1 °C 45 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Oct after 28.1 °C 39 % 70 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
22 Oct after 27.7 °C 27 % 61 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
23 Oct after 26.2 °C 31 % 65 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
24 Oct after 27.4 °C 29 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Oct after 30.2 °C 27 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 26 Aug 2018
After · 22 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 · 1,672Every 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 Zimbabwe ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Hurungwe fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 September 2018 and 15 October 2018: 44 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 33,869 hectares (338.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Hurungwe (29,532 ha, 1.5 %); Mbire (4,409 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.1 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 77 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 59, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zimbabwe (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

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 9 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 1,672 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.