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MZ · Mozambique · →

Macossa fire, September 2021 Macossa, Bárue

Out · last detection 22 Sept 2021, 11:37 UTC

The fire started on 14 September 2021 in Macossa, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,584 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 55th largest in Manica since 2016 (of 198 with a page). Number 66 in Mozambique in 2021, of 233.

Burnt area
5,584ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
14 Sept 2021 – 21 Sept 2021
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
14 Sept
2021
Heat detections
341
in a single hotspot: 160 MW
Danger at start
29
High · FWI index
Energy released
4.2GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 Sept 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Sept21 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

14151617202122

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
57km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

86% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,030 ha in 2016, 150 ha in 2017, 2,181 ha in 2018, 1,567 ha in 2019, 1,967 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,816 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Macossa where it started
    5,332 ha reached on 7 Sept
    0.6 %
  2. Bárue
    270 ha reached on 15 Sept
    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)
14 Sept 31.3 °C 28 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
15 Sept 33.4 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Sept 33.5 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Sept 33.6 °C 31 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
18 Sept 21.2 °C 72 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
19 Sept 23.8 °C 44 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
20 Sept 28.0 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Sept 32.3 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
22 Sept after 24.0 °C 46 % 52 km/h 0.7 mm High 34
23 Sept after 21.3 °C 63 % 42 km/h 0.1 mm High 23
24 Sept after 28.0 °C 32 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
25 Sept after 29.6 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Sept after 31.0 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
27 Sept after 30.7 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
28 Sept after 32.1 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
29 Sept after 33.9 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
30 Sept after 29.3 °C 38 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
1 Oct after 30.2 °C 36 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Sept 2021
After · 28 Sept 2021

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 · 341Every 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 14 September 2021 and 21 September 2021: 8 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 5,584 hectares (55.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Macossa (5,332 ha, 0.6 %); Bárue (270 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.6 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 57 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, class Extreme.
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.