Makonde fire, November 2021 Makonde
The fire started on 8 November 2021 in Makonde, Zimbabwe, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,294 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 55th largest in Mashonaland West since 2016 (of 823 with a page). Number 12 in Zimbabwe in 2021, of 176.
- Burnt area
- 5,294ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 8 Nov 2021 – 11 Nov 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 8 Nov
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 170
- in a single hotspot: 77 MW
- Danger at start
- 44
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.1GW
- 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 20 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.6 mm on 12 Nov.
This area had burned before
58% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 563 ha in 2016, 575 ha in 2017, 372 ha in 2018, 2,439 ha in 2019, 767 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,068 ha that had burned before.
- 1,212 ha Makonde fire, July 2019 4,163 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 891 ha Makonde fire, October 2019 1,246 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 575 ha Makonde fire, October 2017 1,764 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 475 ha Makonde fire, October 2020 2,189 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 463 ha Makonde fire, August 2016 1,054 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 291 ha Makonde fire, October 2020 1,284 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 208 ha Makonde fire, August 2019 1,521 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 181 ha Makonde fire, September 2018 1,466 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Makonde where it started5,305 ha reached on 8 Nov0.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Nov | 35.8 °C | 18 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 9 Nov | 36.6 °C | 20 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 10 Nov | 35.8 °C | 23 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 11 Nov | 31.1 °C | 39 % | 39 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 33 |
| 12 Nov after | 32.9 °C | 34 % | 42 km/h | 3.6 mm | Moderate 14 |
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 · 170Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Makonde fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 November 2021 and 11 November 2021: 4 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 5,294 hectares (52.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Makonde (5,305 ha, 0.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zimbabwe (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.