Mecula fire, 22 July 2023 Mecula
The fire started on 22 July 2023 in Mecula, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,316 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 464th largest in Niassa since 2016 (of 577 with a page). Number 104 in Mozambique in 2023, of 128.
- Burnt area
- 3,316ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 22 Jul 2023 – 27 Jul 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 22 Jul
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 87
- in a single hotspot: 42 MW
- Danger at start
- 36
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 794MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
71% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 252 ha in 2016, 405 ha in 2017, 1,453 ha in 2018, 1,563 ha in 2019, 228 ha in 2020, 35 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,357 ha that had burned before.
- 1,562 ha Mecula fire, July 2019 8,547 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 252 ha Mecula fire, August 2016 8,905 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 35 ha Mecula fire, August 2021 4,838 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10 ha Mecula fire, September 2020 4,871 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2 ha Mecula fire, August 2019 4,012 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Mecula where it started3,330 ha reached on 22 Jul0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Jul | 30.5 °C | 35 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 23 Jul | 27.5 °C | 49 % | 30 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 28 |
| 24 Jul | 30.1 °C | 40 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 25 Jul | 31.1 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 26 Jul | 29.3 °C | 29 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 27 Jul | 30.4 °C | 30 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 28 Jul after | 30.2 °C | 38 % | 30 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 33 |
| 29 Jul after | 29.1 °C | 33 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 30 Jul after | 29.2 °C | 38 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 31 Jul after | 30.7 °C | 29 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 1 Aug after | 29.8 °C | 39 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 2 Aug after | 29.5 °C | 32 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 3 Aug after | 28.8 °C | 33 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 4 Aug after | 29.8 °C | 34 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 5 Aug after | 30.4 °C | 46 % | 42 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 34 |
| 6 Aug after | 29.7 °C | 38 % | 42 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 · 87Every 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 Mecula fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 July 2023 and 27 July 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 3,316 hectares (33.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mecula (3,330 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 31.1 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, 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
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.