Skip to content
worldfires
MZ · Mozambique · →

Malema fire, September 2020 Malema, Gurué

Out · last detection 18 Sept 2020, 11:56 UTC

The fire started on 14 September 2020 in Malema, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,355 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 308th largest in Nampula since 2016 (of 392 with a page). Number 153 in Mozambique in 2020, of 193.

Burnt area
3,355ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
14 Sept 2020 – 18 Sept 2020
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
14 Sept
2020
Heat detections
108
in a single hotspot: 54 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Energy released
593MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Sept 2020
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Sept18 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

1415161718

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

The weather it burned in

29°high
39km/h · peak gust
25%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

53% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 821 ha in 2016, 1,482 ha in 2017, 885 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,788 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Malema where it started
    2,281 ha reached on 14 Sept
    0.4 %
  2. Gurué
    1,094 ha reached on 15 Sept
    0.2 %

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)
14 Sept 28.9 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
15 Sept 29.2 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Sept 28.0 °C 32 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Sept 29.4 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
18 Sept 28.2 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
19 Sept after 27.2 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 Sept after 26.8 °C 35 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Sept after 28.1 °C 27 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Sept after 28.3 °C 27 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
23 Sept after 25.2 °C 33 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
24 Sept after 28.1 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
25 Sept after 28.2 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Sept after 29.8 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
27 Sept after 29.6 °C 27 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Sept after 28.9 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 35

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Sept 2020
After · 25 Sept 2020

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 · 108Every 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 Malema fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 September 2020 and 18 September 2020: 5 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 3,355 hectares (33.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Malema (2,281 ha, 0.4 %); Gurué (1,094 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.4 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

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.