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Mlele fire, 15 August 2016 Mlele, Songwe

Out · last detection 27 Sept 2016, 10:43 UTC

The fire started on 15 August 2016 in Mlele, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 43 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 50,151 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the largest fire in Katavi since 2016 (of 271 with a page). Number 3 in Tanzania in 2016, of 160.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Mlele · 2017Mlele · 2017Mlele · 2022Mlele · 2025

Burnt area
50,151ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
43days
15 Aug 2016 – 26 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
15 Aug
2016
Heat detections
1,611
in a single hotspot: 360 MW
Danger at start
26
High · FWI index
Average daily power
333MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Aug26 Sept
27 Sept 2016

How it evolved, day by day

15 Aug 2016 · 67 MW · 12 16 Aug 2016 · 19 MW · 8 17 Aug 2016 · 79 MW · 17 18 Aug 2016 · 157 MW · 23 19 Aug 2016 · 159 MW · 32 20 Aug 2016 · 86 MW · 24 21 Aug 2016 · 91 MW · 27 22 Aug 2016 · 116 MW · 34 23 Aug 2016 · 49 MW · 8 24 Aug 2016 · 67 MW · 18 25 Aug 2016 · 155 MW · 34 26 Aug 2016 · 276 MW · 60 27 Aug 2016 · 216 MW · 62 28 Aug 2016 · 463 MW · 72 29 Aug 2016 · 245 MW · 48 30 Aug 2016 · 366 MW · 38 31 Aug 2016 · 314 MW · 38 1 Sept 2016 · 71 MW · 24 2 Sept 2016 · 187 MW · 24 3 Sept 2016 · 646 MW · 47 4 Sept 2016 · 49 MW · 15 5 Sept 2016 · 100 MW · 10 6 Sept 2016 · 42 MW · 18 7 Sept 2016 · 71 MW · 18 8 Sept 2016 · 40 MW · 8 9 Sept 2016 · 453 MW · 45 10 Sept 2016 · 173 MW · 34 11 Sept 2016 · 7 MW · 5 12 Sept 2016 · 31 MW · 26 13 Sept 2016 · 953 MW · 84 14 Sept 2016 · 274 MW · 58 15 Sept 2016 · 1,016 MW · 114 16 Sept 2016 · 4,317 MW · 118 17 Sept 2016 · 1,810 MW · 93 18 Sept 2016 · 346 MW · 55 19 Sept 2016 · 226 MW · 67 20 Sept 2016 · 257 MW · 53 21 Sept 2016 · 177 MW · 41 22 Sept 2016 · 112 MW · 29 23 Sept 2016 · 76 MW · 25 24 Sept 2016 · 120 MW · 16 25 Sept 2016 · 89 MW · 9 26 Sept 2016 · 74 MW · 15 27 Sept 2016 · 24 MW · 3
15 Aug 22 Aug 29 Aug 5 Sept 12 Sept 16 Sept 19 Sept 26 Sept

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

The weather it burned in

27°high
44km/h · peak gust
35%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 14.6 mm on 4 Oct.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 32% of the area of London (502 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Mlele where it started
    46,634 ha reached on 14 Aug
    1.6 %
  2. Songwe
    3,916 ha reached on 6 Sept
    0.4 %

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)
15 Aug 23.9 °C 47 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
16 Aug 24.1 °C 42 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
17 Aug 24.1 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Aug 24.8 °C 40 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
19 Aug 24.7 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
20 Aug 25.2 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
21 Aug 26.2 °C 37 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
22 Aug 26.5 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
23 Aug 26.6 °C 38 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
24 Aug 23.9 °C 41 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Aug 23.9 °C 38 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Aug 23.4 °C 44 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
27 Aug 23.9 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
28 Aug 23.3 °C 38 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Aug 23.6 °C 38 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
30 Aug 23.8 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
31 Aug 23.3 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
1 Sept 22.7 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
2 Sept 23.0 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
3 Sept 23.4 °C 41 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
4 Sept 24.4 °C 40 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
5 Sept 24.9 °C 40 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
6 Sept 25.1 °C 46 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
7 Sept 24.4 °C 49 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
8 Sept 25.3 °C 48 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
9 Sept 25.0 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
10 Sept 25.6 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
11 Sept 25.0 °C 42 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
12 Sept 25.3 °C 36 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
13 Sept 25.9 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Sept 25.9 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
15 Sept 25.3 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
16 Sept 26.2 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
17 Sept 26.5 °C 44 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
18 Sept 26.4 °C 45 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
19 Sept 25.4 °C 36 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
20 Sept 25.0 °C 35 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
21 Sept 24.4 °C 39 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Sept 25.6 °C 36 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Sept 26.4 °C 39 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
24 Sept 26.1 °C 40 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
25 Sept 26.3 °C 39 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
26 Sept 26.4 °C 36 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
27 Sept after 25.8 °C 38 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
28 Sept after 26.3 °C 38 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
29 Sept after 26.0 °C 47 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
30 Sept after 26.1 °C 47 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
1 Oct after 26.9 °C 43 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
2 Oct after 27.3 °C 40 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
3 Oct after 28.0 °C 41 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
4 Oct after 24.3 °C 56 % 21 km/h 14.6 mm Very low 2

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Aug 2016
After · 3 Oct 2016

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 · 1,611Every 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 Tanzania ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Mlele fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 August 2016 and 26 September 2016: 43 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 50,151 hectares (501.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mlele (46,634 ha, 1.6 %); Songwe (3,916 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 26.6 °C, humidity dropped to 35 % and gusts hit 44 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 Tanzania (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.

Emergency number: 112

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. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 5 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 1,611 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.