Macossa fire, August 2019 Macossa, Bárue
The fire started on 26 August 2019 in Macossa, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,252 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 91th largest in Manica since 2016 (of 198 with a page). Number 97 in Mozambique in 2019, of 212.
- Burnt area
- 4,252ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 10days
- 26 Aug 2019 – 4 Sept 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 26 Aug
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 165
- in a single hotspot: 50 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.9GW
- 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 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.7 mm on 7 Sept.
This area had burned before
73% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,368 ha in 2016, 1,709 ha in 2017, 800 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,112 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Macossa where it started3,622 ha reached on 26 Aug0.4 %
-
651 ha reached on 1 Sept0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Aug | 28.7 °C | 41 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 27 Aug | 30.0 °C | 24 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 28 Aug | 30.8 °C | 30 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 29 Aug | 28.6 °C | 38 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 30 Aug | 28.6 °C | 32 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 31 Aug | 32.5 °C | 20 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 1 Sept | 31.5 °C | 29 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 2 Sept | 24.5 °C | 60 % | 38 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 22 |
| 3 Sept | 26.6 °C | 43 % | 33 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 22 |
| 4 Sept | 28.0 °C | 34 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 5 Sept after | 29.0 °C | 21 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 6 Sept after | 26.5 °C | 33 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 7 Sept after | 20.2 °C | 48 % | 57 km/h | 1.7 mm | Moderate 16 |
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 · 165Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 30,185 haMacossa29 August 2025 · 25 days · 10 km away
- 27,713 haBárue1 September 2023 · 25 days · 11 km away
- 28,721 haMacossa11 September 2026 · 18 days · 15 km away
- 12,745 haBárue25 September 2017 · 17 days · 16 km away
- 13,314 haBárue12 September 2026 · 17 days · 21 km away
- 25,445 haBárue5 September 2016 · 18 days · 23 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Macossa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 26 August 2019 and 4 September 2019: 10 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 4,252 hectares (42.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Macossa (3,622 ha, 0.4 %); Bárue (651 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.5 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, 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
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.