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Macossa fire, 15 September 2017 Macossa, Bárue

Out · last detection 18 Sept 2017, 11:05 UTC

The fire started on 15 September 2017 in Macossa, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,360 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 88th largest in Manica since 2016 (of 198 with a page). Number 87 in Mozambique in 2017, of 196.

Burnt area
4,360ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
15 Sept 2017 – 18 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
15 Sept
2017
Heat detections
125
in a single hotspot: 111 MW
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index
Energy released
2.2GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Sept18 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

15161718

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
34km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 17 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 28 Sept.

This area had burned before

72% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,296 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,118 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Macossa where it started
    4,379 ha reached on 15 Sept
    0.5 %
  2. Bárue
    2 ha
    0.0 %

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)
15 Sept 29.2 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Sept 30.6 °C 30 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
17 Sept 34.0 °C 22 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Sept 29.0 °C 39 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
19 Sept after 28.4 °C 45 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
20 Sept after 27.8 °C 49 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
21 Sept after 28.3 °C 39 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
22 Sept after 29.4 °C 38 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
23 Sept after 34.2 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
24 Sept after 25.7 °C 51 % 41 km/h 0.3 mm High 30
25 Sept after 30.0 °C 39 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
26 Sept after 35.6 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 38
27 Sept after 31.6 °C 43 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Sept after 29.3 °C 43 % 44 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 21

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Sept 2017
After · 25 Sept 2017

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 · 125Every 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 Macossa fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 September 2017 and 18 September 2017: 4 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 4,360 hectares (43.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Macossa (4,379 ha, 0.5 %); Bárue (2 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.0 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 34 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.