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Mavago fire, 12 September 2019 Mavago, Mecula

Out · last detection 18 Sept 2019, 11:19 UTC

The fire started on 12 September 2019 in Mavago, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,343 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 455th largest in Niassa since 2016 (of 577 with a page). Number 159 in Mozambique in 2019, of 212.

Burnt area
3,343ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
12 Sept 2019 – 19 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
12 Sept
2019
Heat detections
87
in a single hotspot: 45 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Energy released
765MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Sept 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Sept19 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

12131415161718

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

The weather it burned in

32°high
35km/h · peak gust
30%lowest humidity

It had gone 40 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

34% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 85 ha in 2016, 1,064 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Mavago where it started
    3,303 ha reached on 12 Sept
    0.4 %
  2. Mecula
    58 ha
    0.0 %

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)
12 Sept 31.7 °C 45 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
13 Sept 32.1 °C 34 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
14 Sept 31.6 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Sept 31.1 °C 32 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
16 Sept 29.7 °C 39 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
17 Sept 32.1 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Sept 30.7 °C 40 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
19 Sept 30.7 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
20 Sept after 31.9 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm High 35
21 Sept after 31.6 °C 32 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Sept after 31.1 °C 37 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
23 Sept after 31.4 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Sept after 32.1 °C 31 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Sept after 31.3 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
26 Sept after 26.9 °C 42 % 48 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
27 Sept after 30.9 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Sept after 30.3 °C 37 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
29 Sept after 32.2 °C 34 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Sept 2019
After · 26 Sept 2019

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 · 87Every 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 Mavago fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 September 2019 and 19 September 2019: 8 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 3,343 hectares (33.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mavago (3,303 ha, 0.4 %); Mecula (58 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.1 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, 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.