Magude fire, July 2021 Magude
The fire started on 28 July 2021 in Magude, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,282 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 12th largest in Maputo since 2016 (of 16 with a page). Number 192 in Mozambique in 2021, of 233.
- Burnt area
- 3,282ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 28 Jul 2021 – 30 Jul 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 28 Jul
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 132
- in a single hotspot: 94 MW
- Danger at start
- 32
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.5GW
- 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 53 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Magude where it started3,207 ha reached on 28 Jul0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jul | 26.4 °C | 30 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Jul | 28.8 °C | 22 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 30 Jul | 24.2 °C | 49 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 31 Jul after | 25.9 °C | 37 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 1 Aug after | 30.3 °C | 16 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 2 Aug after | 28.7 °C | 17 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 3 Aug after | 25.6 °C | 33 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 4 Aug after | 27.6 °C | 32 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 5 Aug after | 29.2 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 6 Aug after | 31.3 °C | 21 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 7 Aug after | 26.9 °C | 41 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 8 Aug after | 28.0 °C | 30 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 9 Aug after | 34.9 °C | 16 % | 65 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 73 |
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 · 132Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 7,076 haMagudeSeptember 2021 · 5 days · 8 km away
- 4,836 haMagude16 September 2020 · 5 days · 10 km away
- 4,740 haMagude25 September 2020 · 2 days · 31 km away
- 6,095 haBushbuckridge14 November 2021 · 3 days · 32 km away
- 5,670 haMassingirSeptember 2021 · 4 days · 32 km away
- 9,946 haBushbuckridge14 May 2021 · 4 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Magude fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 July 2021 and 30 July 2021: 3 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 3,282 hectares (32.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Magude (3,207 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.8 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 54 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.
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.