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MZ · Mozambique · →

Larde fire, November 2017 Larde

Out · last detection 8 Nov 2017, 11:49 UTC

The fire started on 3 November 2017 in Larde, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,055 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 376th largest in Nampula since 2016 (of 392 with a page). Number 182 in Mozambique in 2017, of 196.

Burnt area
3,055ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
3 Nov 2017 – 9 Nov 2017
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
3 Nov
2017
Heat detections
117
in a single hotspot: 31 MW
Danger at start
14
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
1.3GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

8 Nov 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 3 Nov9 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

345678

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
49km/h · peak gust
36%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.1 mm on 17 Nov.

This area had burned before

58% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,779 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Larde where it started
    3,073 ha reached on 2 Nov
    1.7 %

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)
3 Nov 31.6 °C 51 % 37 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 14
4 Nov 31.5 °C 46 % 47 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
5 Nov 31.0 °C 44 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
6 Nov 31.5 °C 42 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
7 Nov 33.6 °C 41 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
8 Nov 37.0 °C 36 % 43 km/h 2.9 mm High 22
9 Nov 35.3 °C 40 % 38 km/h 1.0 mm High 24
10 Nov after 32.6 °C 50 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
11 Nov after 32.1 °C 54 % 39 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 18
12 Nov after 32.1 °C 53 % 41 km/h 0.2 mm High 22
13 Nov after 31.9 °C 50 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
14 Nov after 32.9 °C 50 % 39 km/h 0.3 mm High 22
15 Nov after 36.9 °C 36 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Nov after 39.5 °C 26 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Nov after 37.3 °C 38 % 42 km/h 4.1 mm Moderate 16

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 27 Oct 2017
After · 16 Nov 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 · 117Every 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 Mozambique ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Larde fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 November 2017 and 9 November 2017: 7 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 3,055 hectares (30.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Larde (3,073 ha, 1.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mozambique (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.

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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.