Macossa fire, 11 September 2026 Macossa, Bárue
The fire started on 11 September 2026 in Macossa, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 28,721 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 2th largest in Manica since 2016 (of 198 with a page). Number 27 in Mozambique in 2026, of 525.
- Burnt area
- 28,721ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 18days
- 11 Sept 2026 – 28 Sept 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 11 Sept
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 1,105
- in a single hotspot: 219 MW
- Danger at start
- 18
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 15.3GW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.4 mm on 29 Sept.
This area had burned before
98% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 10,452 ha in 2016, 9,370 ha in 2017, 11,496 ha in 2018, 9,486 ha in 2019, 8,926 ha in 2020, 6,920 ha in 2021, 8,233 ha in 2022, 7,237 ha in 2023, 8,954 ha in 2024, 13,988 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 28,003 ha that had burned before.
- 3,482 ha Macossa fire, August 2025 8,430 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,442 ha Macossa fire, September 2016 8,469 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,966 ha Macossa fire, August 2024 4,919 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,882 ha Macossa fire, September 2023 4,207 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,424 ha Macossa fire, September 2018 7,699 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,155 ha Macossa fire, September 2022 5,238 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,076 ha Bárue fire, September 2025 7,110 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,561 ha Macossa fire, September 2021 5,584 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Macossa where it started17,895 ha reached on 11 Sept1.9 %
-
10,937 ha reached on 11 Sept1.9 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Sept | 28.3 °C | 43 % | 24 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 12 Sept | 30.5 °C | 33 % | 28 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 26 |
| 13 Sept | 30.2 °C | 33 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 14 Sept | 30.1 °C | 31 % | 29 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 28 |
| 15 Sept | 31.0 °C | 30 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 16 Sept | 32.8 °C | 22 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 17 Sept | 33.6 °C | 21 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 18 Sept | 30.7 °C | 30 % | 39 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 40 |
| 19 Sept | 30.1 °C | 28 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 20 Sept | 30.2 °C | 30 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 21 Sept | 29.5 °C | 34 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 22 Sept | 30.3 °C | 35 % | 35 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 34 |
| 23 Sept | 29.5 °C | 38 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 24 Sept | 31.0 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 25 Sept | 28.8 °C | 32 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 26 Sept | 31.1 °C | 32 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 27 Sept | 34.0 °C | 26 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 28 Sept | 35.7 °C | 27 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 29 Sept after | 28.8 °C | 56 % | 53 km/h | 3.4 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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 16 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 100 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 67: 4.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 1,105Every 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 · 25 km away
- 27,713 haBárue1 September 2023 · 25 days · 25 km away
- 12,745 haBárue25 September 2017 · 17 days · 25 km away
- 12,021 haBárue30 September 2017 · 18 days · 30 km away
- 9,737 haBárue17 September 2022 · 23 days · 30 km away
- 13,314 haBárue11 September 2026 · 18 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Macossa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 September 2026 and 28 September 2026: 18 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 28,721 hectares (287.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Macossa (17,895 ha, 1.9 %); Bárue (10,937 ha, 1.9 %).
- Is the Macossa fire still active?
- No fire detections since 28 Sept 2026, 10:58 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.7 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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.