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Iringa fire, 15 August 2017 Iringa, Chunya, Mbarali

Out · last detection 18 Sept 2017, 11:08 UTC

The fire started on 15 August 2017 in Iringa, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 34 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 39,206 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 8th largest in Iringa since 2016 (of 71 with a page). Number 2 in Tanzania in 2017, of 104.

Burnt area
39,206ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
34days
15 Aug 2017 – 17 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
15 Aug
2017
Heat detections
1,299
in a single hotspot: 216 MW
Danger at start
35
High · FWI index
Energy released
11.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Aug17 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

1516171819202122232425262728293031123456789101112131415161718

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

The weather it burned in

33°high
44km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

56% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 22,208 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Iringa where it started
    25,432 ha reached on 12 Aug
    1.4 %
  2. Chunya
    8,280 ha reached on 18 Aug
    0.5 %
  3. Mbarali
    5,736 ha reached on 5 Sept
    0.4 %

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)
15 Aug 27.4 °C 35 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
16 Aug 26.7 °C 40 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
17 Aug 27.2 °C 41 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Aug 29.1 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
19 Aug 30.4 °C 26 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Aug 27.8 °C 37 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Aug 29.5 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Aug 29.2 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Aug 30.9 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Aug 31.2 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Aug 30.7 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
26 Aug 29.8 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Aug 29.8 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
28 Aug 30.4 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Aug 29.1 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
30 Aug 30.7 °C 20 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Aug 30.7 °C 24 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
1 Sept 30.1 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
2 Sept 29.4 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
3 Sept 29.8 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
4 Sept 29.8 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
5 Sept 30.4 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
6 Sept 29.6 °C 28 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Sept 29.3 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
8 Sept 29.3 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
9 Sept 29.7 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
10 Sept 29.6 °C 26 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
11 Sept 30.1 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
12 Sept 30.2 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
13 Sept 29.5 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
14 Sept 30.2 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Sept 31.0 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
16 Sept 31.7 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
17 Sept 32.6 °C 22 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Sept after 31.7 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
19 Sept after 31.0 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
20 Sept after 31.8 °C 23 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
21 Sept after 31.1 °C 21 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
22 Sept after 30.7 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
23 Sept after 28.9 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
24 Sept after 30.4 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
25 Sept after 30.5 °C 26 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Sept after 30.2 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
27 Sept after 30.3 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 35

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Aug 2017
After · 24 Sept 2017

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 · 1,299Every 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 Tanzania ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Iringa fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 August 2017 and 17 September 2017: 34 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 39,206 hectares (392.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Iringa (25,432 ha, 1.4 %); Chunya (8,280 ha, 0.5 %); Mbarali (5,736 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.6 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 44 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 Tanzania (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.

Emergency number: 112

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

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.