Kibondo fire, July 2021 Kibondo
The fire started on 2 July 2021 in Kibondo, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,146 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 9th largest in Kigoma since 2016 (of 101 with a page). Number 13 in Tanzania in 2021, of 135.
- Burnt area
- 9,146ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 2 Jul 2021 – 6 Jul 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 2 Jul
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 346
- in a single hotspot: 103 MW
- Danger at start
- 28
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.1GW
- 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 51 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
96% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 6,483 ha in 2016, 5,141 ha in 2017, 1,897 ha in 2018, 5,434 ha in 2019, 2,222 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 8,793 ha that had burned before.
- 5,064 ha Kibondo fire, June 2017 8,969 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,422 ha Kibondo fire, July 2019 14,304 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,327 ha Kibondo fire, July 2016 7,592 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,156 ha Kibondo fire, July 2016 9,409 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,222 ha Kibondo fire, July 2020 4,209 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 333 ha Kibondo fire, July 2019 7,412 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 76 ha Kibondo fire, July 2017 3,383 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Kibondo where it started9,214 ha reached on 2 Jul0.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Jul | 28.3 °C | 40 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 3 Jul | 29.2 °C | 35 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 4 Jul | 28.5 °C | 36 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 5 Jul | 28.8 °C | 34 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 6 Jul | 28.4 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 7 Jul after | 27.8 °C | 38 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 8 Jul after | 27.0 °C | 43 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 9 Jul after | 27.9 °C | 41 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 10 Jul after | 28.1 °C | 35 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 11 Jul after | 27.9 °C | 34 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 12 Jul after | 28.1 °C | 38 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 13 Jul after | 28.7 °C | 40 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 14 Jul after | 28.6 °C | 45 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 15 Jul after | 28.3 °C | 45 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 16 Jul after | 27.6 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
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 · 346Every 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 Kibondo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 July 2021 and 6 July 2021: 5 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 9,146 hectares (91.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Kibondo (9,214 ha, 0.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.2 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 30, 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
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.