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MZ · Mozambique · –

Maganja Da Costa fire, August 2025 Maganja Da Costa, Mocubela

Out · last detection 13 Oct 2025, 11:52 UTC

The fire started on 22 August 2025 in Maganja Da Costa, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 53 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,569 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

Number 39 in Mozambique in 2025, of 312.

GWIS near-real-time perimeter, from the layer that changed in August 2025: this fire is not compared with fires from earlier years, because since then the GWIS layer gives more and larger perimeters.

Burnt area
11,569ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
53days
22 Aug 2025 – 13 Oct 2025
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
22 Aug
2025
Heat detections
630
in a single hotspot: 40 MW
Danger at start
16
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
69MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Aug13 Oct
13 Oct 2025

How it evolved, day by day

22 Aug 2025 · 28 MW · 5 23 Aug 2025 · 26 MW · 8 24 Aug 2025 · 54 MW · 10 25 Aug 2025 · 25 MW · 8 27 Aug 2025 · 16 MW · 4 28 Aug 2025 · 7 MW · 3 29 Aug 2025 · 26 MW · 6 30 Aug 2025 · 33 MW · 5 1 Sept 2025 · 35 MW · 6 2 Sept 2025 · 7 MW · 2 3 Sept 2025 · 20 MW · 6 4 Sept 2025 · 26 MW · 5 5 Sept 2025 · 3 MW · 1 6 Sept 2025 · 23 MW · 4 7 Sept 2025 · 34 MW · 7 8 Sept 2025 · 23 MW · 6 9 Sept 2025 · 58 MW · 10 10 Sept 2025 · 51 MW · 10 11 Sept 2025 · 14 MW · 4 12 Sept 2025 · 78 MW · 20 13 Sept 2025 · 12 MW · 4 14 Sept 2025 · 30 MW · 8 15 Sept 2025 · 25 MW · 3 16 Sept 2025 · 100 MW · 15 17 Sept 2025 · 114 MW · 16 18 Sept 2025 · 106 MW · 26 19 Sept 2025 · 144 MW · 30 20 Sept 2025 · 18 MW · 3 21 Sept 2025 · 97 MW · 19 22 Sept 2025 · 51 MW · 14 23 Sept 2025 · 694 MW · 70 24 Sept 2025 · 157 MW · 33 25 Sept 2025 · 13 MW · 3 26 Sept 2025 · 6 MW · 1 28 Sept 2025 · 102 MW · 18 29 Sept 2025 · 239 MW · 56 30 Sept 2025 · 14 MW · 3 2 Oct 2025 · 5 MW · 1 3 Oct 2025 · 111 MW · 18 4 Oct 2025 · 5 MW · 1 6 Oct 2025 · 169 MW · 38 7 Oct 2025 · 10 MW · 2 8 Oct 2025 · 53 MW · 17 9 Oct 2025 · 222 MW · 41 10 Oct 2025 · 138 MW · 32 11 Oct 2025 · 40 MW · 9 12 Oct 2025 · 21 MW · 7 13 Oct 2025 · 51 MW · 12
22 Aug 3 Sept 13 Sept 23 Sept 6 Oct

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

35°high
54km/h · peak gust
34%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

54% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 4,284 ha in 2016, 345 ha in 2017, 2,497 ha in 2018, 2,972 ha in 2019, 1,253 ha in 2020, 4,674 ha in 2021, 751 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,196 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 7.3% of the area of London (116 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Maganja Da Costa where it started
    11,621 ha reached on 22 Aug
    4.0 %
  2. 95 ha reached on 18 Sept
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area5.0 ha
Residents≈ 950

Inside the perimeter there were about 5.0 hectares of built-up land and about 950 residents (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
22 Aug 26.9 °C 55 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
23 Aug 29.7 °C 43 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
24 Aug 32.2 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 Aug 31.1 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
26 Aug 30.1 °C 43 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
27 Aug 28.6 °C 54 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
28 Aug 27.2 °C 61 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
29 Aug 27.6 °C 61 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
30 Aug 27.9 °C 61 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
31 Aug 27.8 °C 62 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
1 Sept 26.8 °C 57 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
2 Sept 27.6 °C 58 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
3 Sept 28.0 °C 55 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
4 Sept 28.8 °C 59 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
5 Sept 28.2 °C 60 % 32 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 19
6 Sept 30.1 °C 53 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
7 Sept 29.0 °C 59 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
8 Sept 29.7 °C 57 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
9 Sept 29.0 °C 66 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm High 22
10 Sept 29.5 °C 58 % 29 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 19
11 Sept 30.0 °C 54 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
12 Sept 29.6 °C 50 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
13 Sept 28.5 °C 60 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
14 Sept 29.5 °C 51 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
15 Sept 29.5 °C 55 % 33 km/h 0.1 mm High 25
16 Sept 32.1 °C 44 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
17 Sept 35.3 °C 34 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
18 Sept 32.0 °C 51 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Sept 28.7 °C 67 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
20 Sept 28.3 °C 57 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Sept 28.2 °C 52 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
22 Sept 30.7 °C 49 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
23 Sept 32.9 °C 43 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Sept 32.5 °C 50 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Sept 29.6 °C 60 % 42 km/h 0.4 mm High 34
26 Sept 28.1 °C 62 % 40 km/h 2.1 mm Moderate 15
27 Sept 27.7 °C 56 % 36 km/h 1.2 mm Moderate 17
28 Sept 30.2 °C 47 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
29 Sept 32.6 °C 47 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
30 Sept 28.6 °C 70 % 42 km/h 1.5 mm High 26
1 Oct 26.7 °C 66 % 54 km/h 4.6 mm Moderate 12
2 Oct 26.3 °C 61 % 37 km/h 3.4 mm Low 7
3 Oct 26.6 °C 50 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
4 Oct 26.2 °C 70 % 50 km/h 3.1 mm Moderate 16
5 Oct 26.8 °C 53 % 36 km/h 1.5 mm Low 7
6 Oct 28.9 °C 54 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
7 Oct 31.7 °C 53 % 40 km/h 0.2 mm High 22
8 Oct 30.9 °C 54 % 42 km/h 0.8 mm High 24
9 Oct 29.4 °C 62 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
10 Oct 28.8 °C 54 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
11 Oct 29.8 °C 55 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
12 Oct 32.2 °C 53 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
13 Oct 32.6 °C 42 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
14 Oct after 30.8 °C 54 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
15 Oct after 31.5 °C 52 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
16 Oct after 33.3 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
17 Oct after 29.0 °C 65 % 47 km/h 0.6 mm High 31
18 Oct after 29.0 °C 60 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm High 23
19 Oct after 30.4 °C 55 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
20 Oct after 29.6 °C 58 % 36 km/h 0.5 mm High 25
21 Oct after 27.8 °C 60 % 40 km/h 0.7 mm High 22
22 Oct after 28.3 °C 52 % 43 km/h 0.4 mm High 31
23 Oct after 27.8 °C 47 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 15 Aug 2025
After · 20 Oct 2025

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 · Copernicus

On 29 September 2025 the air beside the fire reached 26 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 19: 1.3 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak26 µg/m³
Days over the guideline10 days
PM1032 µg/m³
Optical depth0.84
27 Aug5 Sept14 Sept23 Sept2 Oct
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 630Every 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 Maganja Da Costa fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 August 2025 to 13 October 2025 (53 days). The perimeter dates it from 29 August 2025 to 6 October 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 11,569 hectares (115.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Maganja Da Costa (11,621 ha, 4.0 %); Mocubela (95 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.3 °C, humidity dropped to 34 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 6 October 2025 → 13 October 2025.
  2. Start date: 29 August 2025 → 22 August 2025.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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
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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 29 August 2025 to 6 October 2025. 630 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.