Macomia fire, October 2022 Macomia
The fire started on 20 October 2022 in Macomia, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,451 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 88th largest in Cabo Delgado since 2016 (of 120 with a page). Number 157 in Mozambique in 2022, of 206.
The power measured by the satellite is low (25.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 3,451ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 20 Oct 2022 – 24 Oct 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 20 Oct
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 122
- in a single hotspot: 26 MW
- Danger at start
- 24
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 959MW
- 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 20 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
5% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 4 ha in 2018, 1 ha in 2019, 155 ha in 2021.
What happened to each town
-
Macomia where it started3,472 ha reached on 15 Oct0.8 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct | 29.1 °C | 52 % | 37 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 24 |
| 21 Oct | 29.6 °C | 51 % | 41 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 24 |
| 22 Oct | 27.7 °C | 58 % | 42 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 22 |
| 23 Oct | 28.7 °C | 50 % | 39 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 22 |
| 24 Oct | 29.3 °C | 50 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 25 Oct after | 29.1 °C | 54 % | 44 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 23 |
| 26 Oct after | 28.2 °C | 54 % | 45 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 24 |
| 27 Oct after | 29.1 °C | 52 % | 41 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 23 |
| 28 Oct after | 30.7 °C | 46 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 29 Oct after | 30.5 °C | 49 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 30 Oct after | 30.2 °C | 47 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 31 Oct after | 31.0 °C | 46 % | 43 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 26 |
| 1 Nov after | 30.5 °C | 48 % | 45 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 27 |
| 2 Nov after | 29.9 °C | 51 % | 43 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 25 |
| 3 Nov after | 29.7 °C | 55 % | 39 km/h | 0.6 mm | Moderate 21 |
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.
Detections table · 122Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 6,997 haMacomia18 August 2021 · 10 days · 14 km away
- 5,243 haMacomiaSeptember 2019 · 12 days · 19 km away
- 4,144 haMacomia12 August 2021 · 12 days · 30 km away
- 4,195 haMocimboa Da PraiaNovember 2022 · 12 days · 31 km away
- 4,135 haMocimboa Da Praia12 October 2022 · 7 days · 34 km away
- 3,073 haQuissangaJuly 2020 · 7 days · 35 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Macomia fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 October 2022 and 24 October 2022: 5 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 3,451 hectares (34.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Macomia (3,472 ha, 0.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.6 °C, humidity dropped to 50 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, 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.