Macossa fire, 19 August 2023 Macossa, Bárue
The fire started on 19 August 2023 in Macossa, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,517 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 137th largest in Manica since 2016 (of 198 with a page). Number 95 in Mozambique in 2023, of 128.
- Burnt area
- 3,517ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 19 Aug 2023 – 26 Aug 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 19 Aug
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 125
- in a single hotspot: 65 MW
- Danger at start
- 31
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.7GW
- 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 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.3 mm on 27 Aug.
This area had burned before
94% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,183 ha in 2016, 2,867 ha in 2017, 1,382 ha in 2018, 56 ha in 2019, 1,278 ha in 2020, 2,176 ha in 2021, 2,958 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,289 ha that had burned before.
- 2,816 ha Macossa fire, September 2017 8,708 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,625 ha Bárue fire, September 2022 7,292 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,111 ha Bárue fire, September 2016 25,445 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 122 ha Bárue fire, September 2018 8,887 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 71 ha Bárue fire, August 2020 3,581 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 56 ha Bárue fire, August 2019 4,706 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 43 ha Macossa fire, September 2017 4,360 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Macossa where it started2,220 ha reached on 19 Aug0.2 %
-
1,316 ha reached on 24 Aug0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Aug | 31.5 °C | 23 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 20 Aug | 31.9 °C | 30 % | 27 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 32 |
| 21 Aug | 32.0 °C | 28 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 22 Aug | 33.6 °C | 19 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 23 Aug | 32.5 °C | 17 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 24 Aug | 32.6 °C | 28 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 25 Aug | 31.6 °C | 31 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 26 Aug | 34.6 °C | 24 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 27 Aug after | 23.8 °C | 55 % | 63 km/h | 4.3 mm | Low 10 |
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 · 125Every 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 · 4 km away
- 13,314 haBárue12 September 2026 · 17 days · 9 km away
- 25,445 haBárue5 September 2016 · 18 days · 12 km away
- 27,713 haBárue1 September 2023 · 25 days · 14 km away
- 13,764 haBárue9 September 2022 · 16 days · 15 km away
- 14,805 haBárue22 August 2026 · 14 days · 17 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Macossa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 August 2023 and 26 August 2023: 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 3,517 hectares (35.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Macossa (2,220 ha, 0.2 %); Bárue (1,316 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, 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.