Hurungwe fire, 3 June 2019 Hurungwe
The fire started on 3 June 2019 in Hurungwe, Zimbabwe, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,912 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 88th largest in Mashonaland West since 2016 (of 823 with a page). Number 36 in Zimbabwe in 2019, of 282.
The power measured by the satellite is low (14.9 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 3,912ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 3 Jun 2019 – 10 Jun 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 3 Jun
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 136
- in a single hotspot: 15 MW
- Danger at start
- 32
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 295MW
- 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 45 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
38% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 931 ha in 2016, 1,197 ha in 2017, 246 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,504 ha that had burned before.
- 1,174 ha Hurungwe fire, September 2017 8,234 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 931 ha Hurungwe fire, September 2016 4,478 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 246 ha Hurungwe fire, June 2018 1,313 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 23 ha Hurungwe fire, September 2017 1,611 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Hurungwe where it started3,927 ha reached on 3 Jun0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Jun | 27.0 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 4 Jun | 26.4 °C | 32 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 5 Jun | 27.6 °C | 36 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 6 Jun | 28.7 °C | 31 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 7 Jun | 29.0 °C | 26 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 8 Jun | 28.3 °C | 32 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 9 Jun | 25.9 °C | 37 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 10 Jun | 24.8 °C | 39 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 11 Jun after | 25.6 °C | 36 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 12 Jun after | 25.1 °C | 40 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 13 Jun after | 27.9 °C | 33 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 14 Jun after | 26.6 °C | 28 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 15 Jun after | 22.6 °C | 50 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 16 Jun after | 24.8 °C | 35 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 17 Jun after | 25.8 °C | 33 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 18 Jun after | 25.9 °C | 34 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 19 Jun after | 25.6 °C | 36 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 20 Jun after | 25.2 °C | 31 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
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 · 136Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Hurungwe fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 June 2019 and 10 June 2019: 8 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 3,912 hectares (39.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Hurungwe (3,927 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.0 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very high.
- 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
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.