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Kasulu fire, June 2017 Kasulu, Kibondo

Out · last detection 21 Jun 2017, 23:20 UTC

The fire started on 19 June 2017 in Kasulu, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,019 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 99th largest in Kigoma since 2016 (of 101 with a page). Number 103 in Tanzania in 2017, of 104.

Burnt area
3,019ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
2days
19 Jun 2017 – 20 Jun 2017
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
19 Jun
2017
Heat detections
75
in a single hotspot: 99 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Energy released
760MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

21 Jun 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Jun20 Jun

How it evolved, day by day

192021

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

The weather it burned in

30°high
38km/h · peak gust
35%lowest humidity

It had gone 37 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

54% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,660 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Kasulu where it started
    3,006 ha reached on 19 Jun
    0.4 %
  2. Kibondo
    34 ha
    0.0 %

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)
19 Jun 29.2 °C 35 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
20 Jun 29.7 °C 37 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
21 Jun after 30.1 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Jun after 30.6 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
23 Jun after 30.8 °C 36 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Jun after 30.1 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Jun after 29.2 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
26 Jun after 30.1 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
27 Jun after 30.0 °C 33 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
28 Jun after 29.7 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Jun after 31.0 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
30 Jun after 30.3 °C 31 % 37 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 · 12 Jun 2017
After · 27 Jun 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 · 75Every 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 Kasulu fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 June 2017 and 20 June 2017: 2 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 3,019 hectares (30.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kasulu (3,006 ha, 0.4 %); Kibondo (34 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.7 °C, humidity dropped to 35 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, class 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.