Mapai fire, 27 November 2023 Mapai, Mabalane
The fire started on 27 November 2023 in Mapai, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,110 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 3th largest in Gaza since 2016 (of 78 with a page). Number 20 in Mozambique in 2023, of 128.
- Burnt area
- 9,110ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 27 Nov 2023 – 2 Dec 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 27 Nov
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 376
- in a single hotspot: 158 MW
- Danger at start
- 35
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 6.8GW
- 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 18 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 6 Dec.
This area had burned before
2% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 154 ha in 2021.
What happened to each town
-
Mapai where it started8,229 ha reached on 27 Nov0.7 %
-
938 ha reached on 28 Nov0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Nov | 37.9 °C | 24 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 28 Nov | 38.2 °C | 26 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 29 Nov | 40.6 °C | 24 % | 64 km/h | 0.1 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 30 Nov | 27.0 °C | 53 % | 53 km/h | 3.7 mm | Low 10 |
| 1 Dec | 31.3 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 2 Dec | 33.6 °C | 27 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 3 Dec after | 33.5 °C | 31 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 4 Dec after | 36.1 °C | 27 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 5 Dec after | 37.1 °C | 28 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 6 Dec after | 30.5 °C | 52 % | 40 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
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 · 376Every 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 Mapai fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 27 November 2023 and 2 December 2023: 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 9,110 hectares (91.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mapai (8,229 ha, 0.7 %); Mabalane (938 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 40.6 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 64 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 61, class Extreme.
- 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.