Hwange fire, 8 July 2019 Hwange, Lupane
The fire started on 8 July 2019 in Hwange, Zimbabwe, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,660 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 162th largest in Matabeleland North since 2016 (of 487 with a page). Number 50 in Zimbabwe in 2019, of 282.
- Burnt area
- 2,660ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 8 Jul 2019 – 11 Jul 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 8 Jul
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 69
- in a single hotspot: 77 MW
- Danger at start
- 46
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 199MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
52% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,227 ha in 2016, 152 ha in 2017.
- 629 ha Hwange fire, October 2016 1,042 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 598 ha Lupane fire, October 2016 3,128 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 151 ha Lupane fire, September 2017 19,184 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1 ha Lupane fire, August 2017 4,048 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Hwange where it started2,516 ha reached on 8 Jul0.1 %
-
158 ha reached on 11 Jul0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Jul | 28.2 °C | 9 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 9 Jul | 26.7 °C | 24 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 10 Jul | 26.7 °C | 21 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 11 Jul | 26.6 °C | 19 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 12 Jul after | 26.0 °C | 14 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 13 Jul after | 25.8 °C | 12 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 14 Jul after | 24.7 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 15 Jul after | 24.9 °C | 22 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 16 Jul after | 24.3 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 17 Jul after | 24.6 °C | 22 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 18 Jul after | 25.0 °C | 21 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 19 Jul after | 26.7 °C | 21 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 20 Jul after | 28.1 °C | 12 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 21 Jul after | 26.5 °C | 13 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
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 · 69Every 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 Hwange fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 July 2019 and 11 July 2019: 4 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 2,660 hectares (26.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Hwange (2,516 ha, 0.1 %); Lupane (158 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.2 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 31 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, 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.