Burned area
satellite only17,879ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- 22 Sept 2023 – 16 Oct 2023
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
MZ · Mozambique · –
Lugela fire, 22 September 2023 Lugela, Namarrói
Out · last detection 16 Oct 2023, 11:00 UTC
The fire started on 22 September 2023 in Lugela, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 25 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 17,879 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 49th largest in Zambézia since 2016 (of 564 with a page). Number 4 in Mozambique in 2023, of 128.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-26matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only25days
22 Sept 2023 to 16 Oct 2023: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 16 Oct 2023, 11:00 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only22 Sept 2023
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 22 Sept 2023
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only1,156
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 173 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 22 Sept 2023 – 16 Oct 2023
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only4,202MW
Total radiative power on 7 October 2023; hotspots that day: 211.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 7 Oct 2023
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model24.0FWI · high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 7.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 22 Sept 2023, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model38.3°C · 17% RH
High of 38.3 °C and minimum humidity of 17% on 14 October 2023; gusts of 45 km/h on 2 October 2023.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 22 Sept 2023 – 16 Oct 2023
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
Living inside
model≈ 1,100people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 5.5 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2025).
- Source
- GHSL R2023A · JRC
- Date
- calculated on 24 October 2026
+− cross-check
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.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
logLast day with fire: 12 October 2023 → 16 October 2023.
-
logStart date: 29 September 2023 → 22 September 2023.
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
What was saved on 26 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 17,879 ha
- Dates
- 22 Sept 2023 – 16 Oct 2023
- Name
- Lugela
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/lugela-2023-09-5?v=2026-10-26A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire lugela-2023-09-5.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-09-22 | 12 | 83 | 32.6 | 16.9 | 26 | 12.4 | 30.6 | 0 | 24 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-09-23 | 9 | 37 | 32.8 | 19.2 | 25 | 13.9 | 36.4 | 0 | 26.2 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-09-24 | 36 | 273 | 32.9 | 20.4 | 29 | 8.7 | 22.7 | 0 | 23.6 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-09-25 | 2 | 20 | 32.4 | 20.4 | 31 | 10.1 | 26.3 | 0 | 25.1 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-09-26 | 15 | 44 | 33 | 20 | 29 | 10.2 | 27.4 | 0 | 25.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-09-27 | 7 | 76 | 32.2 | 19.4 | 33 | 11.6 | 28.1 | 0 | 26.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-09-28 | 11 | 99 | 32.2 | 19.4 | 31 | 10.7 | 29.5 | 0 | 26.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-09-29 | 72 | 581 | 32 | 20.3 | 32 | 11.6 | 33.1 | 0 | 28 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-09-30 | 109 | 923 | 33.7 | 20.4 | 24 | 9.7 | 27.4 | 0 | 27.9 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-01 | 111 | 1,174 | 36.2 | 19 | 22 | 12.1 | 31.7 | 0 | 32.5 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-02 | 49 | 589 | 30.6 | 19.6 | 38 | 19.9 | 45 | 1.2 | 22.9 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-03 | 0 | 0 | 23.5 | 17.8 | 59 | 19.2 | 41.4 | 9.1 | 2.6 | muy_bajo | 1 |
| 2023-10-04 | 62 | 944 | 29.1 | 15.9 | 39 | 12.5 | 30.2 | 0 | 9 | bajo | 1 |
| 2023-10-05 | 77 | 810 | 31.6 | 16.7 | 33 | 12.8 | 33.1 | 0 | 19.2 | moderado | 1 |
| 2023-10-06 | 132 | 1,530 | 34.1 | 19 | 25 | 11.3 | 31.3 | 0 | 25 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-07 | 211 | 4,202 | 35.2 | 21.4 | 22 | 12.5 | 32.8 | 0 | 29.2 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-08 | 103 | 612 | 36.3 | 19.3 | 26 | 14.1 | 36 | 0 | 31.3 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-09 | 16 | 153 | 33 | 20.7 | 34 | 14.2 | 33.1 | 0 | 29.3 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-10 | 54 | 443 | 33.3 | 20.4 | 27 | 13.8 | 33.8 | 0 | 29.7 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-11 | 22 | 445 | 33.6 | 19.9 | 28 | 12.7 | 32.4 | 0 | 29.6 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-12 | 19 | 99 | 35.3 | 20 | 27 | 9.7 | 28.8 | 0 | 28.1 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-13 | 5 | 38 | 38 | 19.6 | 21 | 11.7 | 31.3 | 0 | 34.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-14 | 8 | 69 | 38.3 | 23.4 | 17 | 15.4 | 38.9 | 0 | 41.6 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-15 | 8 | 53 | 33.9 | 22.3 | 35 | 20.3 | 43.9 | 0 | 38.1 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-16 | 6 | 64 | 35.6 | 21.8 | 32 | 13.4 | 31.3 | 0 | 32.8 | alto | 1 |
| 2023-10-17 | 0 | 0 | 33.4 | 21.2 | 34 | 18.9 | 37.4 | 2.8 | 17.7 | moderado | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: GWIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 17,879ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 25days
- 22 Sept 2023 – 16 Oct 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 22 Sept
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 1,156
- in a single hotspot: 173 MW
- Danger at start
- 24
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 557MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
22 Sept16 Oct
16 Oct 2023
How it evolved, day by day
22 Sept
27 Sept
2 Oct
7 Oct
13 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
38°high
45km/h · peak gust
17%lowest humidity
It had gone 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.8 mm on 17 Oct.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 13,421 ha in 2016, 13,310 ha in 2017, 4,678 ha in 2018, 9,364 ha in 2019, 13,598 ha in 2020, 8,951 ha in 2021, 14,651 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 17,864 ha that had burned before.
- 14,651 ha Lugela fire, September 2022 172,167 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 13,598 ha Lugela fire, September 2020 110,845 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10,687 ha Namarrói fire, October 2017 45,014 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,582 ha Namarrói fire, September 2016 76,091 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,677 ha Lugela fire, October 2021 7,441 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,593 ha Namarrói fire, September 2019 12,881 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,506 ha Lugela fire, October 2021 3,714 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,850 ha Lugela fire, September 2018 3,350 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Lugela where it started11,024 ha reached on 22 Sept1.8 %
-
6,946 ha reached on 22 Sept2.3 %
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 2025Built-up area5.5 ha
Residents≈ 1,100
Inside the perimeter there were about 5.5 hectares of built-up land and about 1,100 residents (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Sept | 32.6 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 23 Sept | 32.8 °C | 25 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 24 Sept | 32.9 °C | 29 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 25 Sept | 32.4 °C | 31 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 26 Sept | 33.0 °C | 29 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 27 Sept | 32.2 °C | 33 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 28 Sept | 32.2 °C | 31 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 29 Sept | 32.0 °C | 32 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 30 Sept | 33.7 °C | 24 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 1 Oct | 36.2 °C | 22 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 2 Oct | 30.6 °C | 38 % | 45 km/h | 1.2 mm | High 23 |
| 3 Oct | 23.5 °C | 59 % | 41 km/h | 9.1 mm | Very low 3 |
| 4 Oct | 29.1 °C | 39 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 5 Oct | 31.6 °C | 33 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 6 Oct | 34.1 °C | 25 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 7 Oct | 35.2 °C | 22 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 8 Oct | 36.3 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 9 Oct | 33.0 °C | 34 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 10 Oct | 33.3 °C | 27 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 11 Oct | 33.6 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 12 Oct | 35.3 °C | 27 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 13 Oct | 38.0 °C | 21 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 14 Oct | 38.3 °C | 17 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 15 Oct | 33.9 °C | 35 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 16 Oct | 35.6 °C | 32 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 17 Oct after | 33.4 °C | 34 % | 37 km/h | 2.8 mm | Moderate 18 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 24.0, a minimum humidity of 26% and 7 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 41.
FWI at the start
24.0
Minimum humidity
26 %
Days without rain
7
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Lugela fire, 22 September 2023
17,879 ha
25 days
FWI 24.0
Min. humidity 26 %
Namarrói fire, September 2019
12,881 ha
26 days
FWI 24.9
Min. humidity 28 %
4 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.1 mm on 12 Oct.
Lugela fire, September 2016
3,051 ha
21 days
FWI 27.3
Min. humidity 26 %
62 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Mocuba fire, September 2024
9,628 ha
9 days
FWI 25.4
Min. humidity 25 %
66 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 6.9 mm on 22 Sept.
Lugela fire, August 2019
3,459 ha
16 days
FWI 22.1
Min. humidity 25 %
32 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Milange fire, September 2018
4,707 ha
17 days
FWI 23.2
Min. humidity 27 %
102 km away, in 2018
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 6.5 mm on 30 Sept.
What happened to them
- 16 days
- median duration
- 4,369 ha
- median area
- 20 %
- went past 10,000 ha
- 3.0 mm
- rain at the end (median; 30 of 41 had it)
It was 4.1 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 25 days, against 16 days.
Only 5 of its 41 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 11 of 41, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.0 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
2.8 mmfirst rain
17 Octthe day after it ended
45km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 16 Oct, and on 17 Oct 2.8 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 30 of 41, with a median of 3.0 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
- Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
- Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
- Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
- Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
- They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 15 Sept 2023
After · 23 Oct 2023
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 2 October 2023 the air beside the fire reached 44 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 25: 1.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak44 µg/m³
Days over the guideline8 days
PM1063 µg/m³
Optical depth0.99
WHO 15
27 Sept1 Oct5 Oct9 Oct13 Oct
Good
Fair
Moderate
Poor
Very poor
Extremely poor
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 · 1,156Every 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 time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 57,742 haLugela5 October 2026 · 28 days · 12 km away
- 110,845 haLugela6 September 2020 · 39 days · 22 km away
- 172,167 haLugelaSeptember 2022 · 48 days · 23 km away
- 213,498 haNamarrói16 August 2026 · 44 days · 30 km away
- 184,318 haLugela27 August 2025 · 77 days · 31 km away
- 70,698 haLugela10 August 2026 · 36 days · 31 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Lugela fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 September 2023 to 16 October 2023 (25 days). The perimeter dates it from 29 September 2023 to 12 October 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 17,879 hectares (178.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Lugela (11,024 ha, 1.8 %); Namarrói (6,946 ha, 2.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.3 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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.
- How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
- Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 41. Their median duration was 16 days and their median area 4,369 ha; 20 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 5 of its 41 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 11 of 41, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.0 mm.
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.
- Last day with fire: 12 October 2023 → 16 October 2023.
- Start date: 29 September 2023 → 22 September 2023.
RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 29 September 2023 to 12 October 2023. 1,156 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 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.