Mazabuka fire, May 2016 Mazabuka
The fire started on 4 May 2016 in Mazabuka, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,667 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 12th largest in Southern since 2016 (of 58 with a page). Number 69 in Zambia in 2016, of 246.
- Burnt area
- 6,667ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 4 May 2016 – 11 May 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 4 May
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 273
- in a single hotspot: 187 MW
- Danger at start
- 22
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 6.5GW
- 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 21 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
-
Mazabuka where it started6,695 ha reached on 4 May1.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 May | 29.6 °C | 36 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 5 May | 27.0 °C | 39 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 6 May | 26.1 °C | 38 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 7 May | 26.8 °C | 32 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 8 May | 26.2 °C | 35 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 9 May | 24.4 °C | 46 % | 49 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 28 |
| 10 May | 25.1 °C | 41 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 11 May | 25.0 °C | 41 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 12 May after | 26.7 °C | 33 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 13 May after | 27.8 °C | 36 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 14 May after | 29.0 °C | 33 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 15 May after | 28.7 °C | 33 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 16 May after | 27.9 °C | 29 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 17 May after | 27.0 °C | 39 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 18 May after | 26.0 °C | 37 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 19 May after | 24.8 °C | 45 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 20 May after | 24.2 °C | 43 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 21 May after | 22.5 °C | 42 % | 50 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.
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 · 273Every 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 Mazabuka fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 4 May 2016 and 11 May 2016: 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 6,667 hectares (66.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mazabuka (6,695 ha, 1.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.6 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zambia (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 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.