Larde fire, September 2026 Larde
The fire started on 17 September 2026 in Larde, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,163 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 352th largest in Nampula since 2016 (of 393 with a page). Number 478 in Mozambique in 2026, of 525.
- Burnt area
- 3,163ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 15days
- 17 Sept 2026 – 1 Oct 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 17 Sept
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 80
- in a single hotspot: 44 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 578MW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.5 mm on 3 Oct.
This area had burned before
93% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,056 ha in 2016, 45 ha in 2017, 163 ha in 2018, 2,057 ha in 2019, 1,917 ha in 2020, 912 ha in 2021, 1,030 ha in 2022, 1,319 ha in 2023, 763 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,939 ha that had burned before.
- 1,626 ha Larde fire, October 2019 3,291 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,319 ha Larde fire, September 2023 15,626 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 45 ha Larde fire, October 2017 3,782 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 27 ha Larde fire, October 2020 3,764 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 17 ha Larde fire, October 2016 3,498 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Larde where it started3,183 ha reached on 17 Sept1.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Sept | 30.9 °C | 45 % | 49 km/h | 1.4 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 18 Sept | 29.3 °C | 48 % | 37 km/h | 1.3 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 19 Sept | 29.1 °C | 51 % | 36 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 20 Sept | 29.5 °C | 44 % | 34 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 22 |
| 21 Sept | 31.3 °C | 42 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 22 Sept | 29.4 °C | 55 % | 31 km/h | 1.8 mm | Low 11 |
| 23 Sept | 28.3 °C | 53 % | 39 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 24 Sept | 28.2 °C | 57 % | 39 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 25 Sept | 27.7 °C | 59 % | 33 km/h | 1.7 mm | Low 9 |
| 26 Sept | 30.4 °C | 50 % | 34 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 27 Sept | 32.2 °C | 47 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Sept | 33.6 °C | 44 % | 46 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 31 |
| 29 Sept | 30.7 °C | 53 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 30 Sept | 29.2 °C | 56 % | 45 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 1 Oct | 27.8 °C | 52 % | 44 km/h | 0.6 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 2 Oct after | 28.1 °C | 52 % | 28 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 3 Oct after | 25.4 °C | 73 % | 25 km/h | 4.5 mm | Very low 2 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 19 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 39 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 22: 1.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 80Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 6,393 haLardeSeptember 2024 · 6 days · 12 km away
- 5,969 haLarde3 October 2016 · 10 days · 12 km away
- 15,626 haLarde20 September 2023 · 26 days · 13 km away
- 9,296 haLarde31 August 2026 · 15 days · 13 km away
- 5,582 haLarde10 September 2025 · 10 days · 13 km away
- 8,159 haLarde11 September 2025 · 15 days · 15 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Larde fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 September 2026 to 1 October 2026 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 September 2026 to 1 October 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,163 hectares (31.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Larde (3,183 ha, 1.7 %).
- Is the Larde fire still active?
- No fire detections since 29 Sept 2026, 10:41 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.6 °C, humidity dropped to 42 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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.
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.