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MZ · Mozambique · →

Larde fire, October 2021 Larde

Out · last detection 18 Oct 2021, 11:50 UTC

The fire started on 11 October 2021 in Larde, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,408 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 295th largest in Nampula since 2016 (of 392 with a page). Number 173 in Mozambique in 2021, of 233.

Burnt area
3,408ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
11 Oct 2021 – 18 Oct 2021
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
11 Oct
2021
Heat detections
149
in a single hotspot: 111 MW
Danger at start
8
Low · FWI index
Energy released
1.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Oct 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 11 Oct18 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

1112131415161718

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
57km/h · peak gust
38%lowest humidity

It had gone 28 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

86% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,770 ha in 2016, 2,160 ha in 2017, 1,528 ha in 2018, 986 ha in 2019, 747 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,919 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Larde where it started
    3,428 ha reached on 10 Oct
    1.8 %

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)
11 Oct 29.8 °C 58 % 48 km/h 4.1 mm Low 8
12 Oct 27.2 °C 51 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
13 Oct 28.6 °C 53 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
14 Oct 31.6 °C 49 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 20
15 Oct 33.3 °C 40 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
16 Oct 33.6 °C 39 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
17 Oct 33.6 °C 38 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Oct 32.3 °C 39 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
19 Oct after 30.0 °C 55 % 39 km/h 0.3 mm High 23
20 Oct after 29.0 °C 58 % 47 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 19
21 Oct after 28.5 °C 48 % 43 km/h 0.1 mm High 22
22 Oct after 29.6 °C 43 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
23 Oct after 32.9 °C 39 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
24 Oct after 35.3 °C 32 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
25 Oct after 32.6 °C 53 % 46 km/h 0.8 mm High 23
26 Oct after 32.5 °C 48 % 34 km/h 0.3 mm High 22
27 Oct after 31.7 °C 50 % 43 km/h 0.1 mm High 27
28 Oct after 29.0 °C 47 % 56 km/h 0.2 mm High 31

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 4 Oct 2021
After · 25 Oct 2021

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 · 149Every 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 11 October 2021 and 18 October 2021: 8 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 3,408 hectares (34.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Larde (3,428 ha, 1.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.6 °C, humidity dropped to 38 % and gusts hit 57 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, 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.