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MZ · Mozambique · →

Majune fire, 20 October 2016 Majune

Out · last detection 26 Oct 2016, 22:46 UTC

The fire started on 20 October 2016 in Majune, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,100 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 530th largest in Niassa since 2016 (of 577 with a page). Number 178 in Mozambique in 2016, of 194.

Burnt area
3,100ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
20 Oct 2016 – 25 Oct 2016
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
20 Oct
2016
Heat detections
72
in a single hotspot: 73 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

26 Oct 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Oct25 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

20212223242526

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

The weather it burned in

33°high
37km/h · peak gust
30%lowest humidity

It had gone 15 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

  1. Majune where it started
    3,117 ha reached on 20 Oct
    0.3 %

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)
20 Oct 32.0 °C 33 % 32 km/h 0.3 mm High 32
21 Oct 32.2 °C 36 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Oct 32.4 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
23 Oct 33.0 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Oct 33.0 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Oct 32.4 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
26 Oct after 31.6 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
27 Oct after 33.8 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Oct after 32.4 °C 39 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm High 34
29 Oct after 33.0 °C 36 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
30 Oct after 32.9 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
31 Oct after 33.5 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
1 Nov after 34.8 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
2 Nov after 35.1 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Nov after 34.1 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
4 Nov after 32.9 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 13 Oct 2016
After · 1 Nov 2016

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 · 72Every 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 Majune fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 October 2016 and 25 October 2016: 6 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 3,100 hectares (31.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Majune (3,117 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.0 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 37 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

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.