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Lugela fire, 12 September 2019 Lugela, Milange, Mocuba

Out · last detection 22 Oct 2019, 10:40 UTC

The fire started on 12 September 2019 in Lugela, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 41 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 37,409 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 41th largest in Zambézia since 2016 (of 839 with a page). Number 3 in Mozambique in 2019, of 212.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Mocuba · 2017Milange · 2016Mocuba · 2018Milange · 2018

Burnt area
37,409ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
41days
12 Sept 2019 – 22 Oct 2019
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
12 Sept
2019
Heat detections
2,087
in a single hotspot: 236 MW
Danger at start
29
High · FWI index
Average daily power
779MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Sept22 Oct
22 Oct 2019

How it evolved, day by day

12 Sept 2019 · 29 MW · 5 13 Sept 2019 · 433 MW · 30 15 Sept 2019 · 77 MW · 13 16 Sept 2019 · 28 MW · 4 17 Sept 2019 · 19 MW · 5 18 Sept 2019 · 523 MW · 46 19 Sept 2019 · 543 MW · 42 20 Sept 2019 · 605 MW · 41 21 Sept 2019 · 763 MW · 71 22 Sept 2019 · 260 MW · 24 23 Sept 2019 · 2,825 MW · 176 24 Sept 2019 · 3,031 MW · 179 25 Sept 2019 · 52 MW · 9 27 Sept 2019 · 266 MW · 34 28 Sept 2019 · 3,150 MW · 201 29 Sept 2019 · 988 MW · 107 30 Sept 2019 · 4,137 MW · 257 1 Oct 2019 · 12 MW · 2 4 Oct 2019 · 141 MW · 18 5 Oct 2019 · 1,394 MW · 96 6 Oct 2019 · 1,533 MW · 95 7 Oct 2019 · 536 MW · 38 8 Oct 2019 · 2,155 MW · 164 9 Oct 2019 · 2,167 MW · 190 10 Oct 2019 · 647 MW · 45 11 Oct 2019 · 267 MW · 34 13 Oct 2019 · 222 MW · 23 14 Oct 2019 · 610 MW · 60 15 Oct 2019 · 338 MW · 47 16 Oct 2019 · 44 MW · 5 17 Oct 2019 · 12 MW · 3 18 Oct 2019 · 29 MW · 5 19 Oct 2019 · 37 MW · 3 20 Oct 2019 · 24 MW · 3 21 Oct 2019 · 132 MW · 11 22 Oct 2019 · 9 MW · 1
12 Sept 19 Sept 25 Sept 30 Sept 4 Oct 10 Oct 17 Oct

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

The weather it burned in

40°high
48km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

95% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 26,999 ha in 2016, 28,673 ha in 2017, 20,479 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 35,442 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 24% of the area of London (374 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Lugela where it started
    18,823 ha reached on 12 Sept
    3.0 %
  2. Milange
    16,180 ha reached on 13 Sept
    2.9 %
  3. Mocuba
    2,636 ha reached on 12 Sept
    0.3 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area40 ha
Residents≈ 8,200

Inside the perimeter there were about 40 hectares of built-up land and about 8,200 residents (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
12 Sept 36.0 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
13 Sept 35.4 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Sept 36.6 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
15 Sept 33.6 °C 26 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Sept 31.9 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Sept 30.9 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Sept 30.1 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
19 Sept 31.2 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
20 Sept 31.0 °C 33 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
21 Sept 32.2 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
22 Sept 34.9 °C 24 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
23 Sept 36.4 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Sept 34.9 °C 21 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Sept 28.8 °C 43 % 44 km/h 6.8 mm Low 6
26 Sept 21.7 °C 53 % 47 km/h 1.6 mm Low 7
27 Sept 25.9 °C 37 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
28 Sept 31.4 °C 25 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
29 Sept 34.5 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
30 Sept 37.2 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
1 Oct 37.7 °C 18 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
2 Oct 24.4 °C 76 % 30 km/h 5.3 mm Very low 1
3 Oct 26.6 °C 68 % 34 km/h 12.4 mm Very low 0
4 Oct 29.4 °C 49 % 26 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 3
5 Oct 32.7 °C 45 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
6 Oct 32.6 °C 42 % 29 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 15
7 Oct 32.9 °C 35 % 37 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 18
8 Oct 35.1 °C 31 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
9 Oct 37.0 °C 26 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
10 Oct 37.2 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
11 Oct 31.0 °C 46 % 42 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 16
12 Oct 28.8 °C 52 % 30 km/h 1.7 mm Low 6
13 Oct 32.3 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
14 Oct 32.1 °C 42 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
15 Oct 31.5 °C 36 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
16 Oct 27.9 °C 46 % 42 km/h 0.4 mm High 22
17 Oct 29.7 °C 43 % 37 km/h 1.7 mm Moderate 12
18 Oct 30.4 °C 40 % 33 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 19
19 Oct 33.3 °C 39 % 31 km/h 6.7 mm Very low 4
20 Oct 34.4 °C 43 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 15
21 Oct 38.2 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
22 Oct 39.6 °C 20 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
23 Oct after 38.3 °C 28 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
24 Oct after 39.6 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
25 Oct after 39.9 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Oct after 40.0 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Oct after 40.2 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
28 Oct after 40.4 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
29 Oct after 41.7 °C 12 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
30 Oct after 39.2 °C 17 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
31 Oct after 35.9 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Nov after 32.4 °C 44 % 41 km/h 0.8 mm High 25

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Sept 2019
After · 29 Oct 2019

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 · 2,087Every 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 Lugela fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 12 September 2019 to 22 October 2019 (41 days). The perimeter dates it from 17 September 2019 to 15 October 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 37,409 hectares (374.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Lugela (18,823 ha, 3.0 %); Milange (16,180 ha, 2.9 %); Mocuba (2,636 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.6 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, class Very 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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 15 October 2019 → 22 October 2019.
  2. Start date: 17 September 2019 → 12 September 2019.

RSS Changes to this page

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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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 7 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 17 September 2019 to 15 October 2019. 2,087 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.