Mlele fire, 20 July 2019 Mlele
The fire started on 20 July 2019 in Mlele, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,840 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 65th largest in Katavi since 2016 (of 271 with a page). Number 36 in Tanzania in 2019, of 123.
- Burnt area
- 6,840ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 20 Jul 2019 – 25 Jul 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 20 Jul
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 194
- in a single hotspot: 68 MW
- Danger at start
- 30
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.6GW
- 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
87% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,586 ha in 2016, 3,622 ha in 2017, 4,141 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,924 ha that had burned before.
- 2,886 ha Mlele fire, September 2018 9,736 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,710 ha Mlele fire, June 2016 4,273 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,560 ha Mlele fire, September 2017 3,881 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,128 ha Mlele fire, July 2017 3,258 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 982 ha Mlele fire, August 2018 3,867 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Mlele where it started6,891 ha reached on 20 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Jul | 29.3 °C | 39 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 21 Jul | 30.1 °C | 30 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 22 Jul | 27.9 °C | 32 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 23 Jul | 27.8 °C | 33 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 24 Jul | 30.0 °C | 26 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 25 Jul | 30.5 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 26 Jul after | 28.5 °C | 28 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 27 Jul after | 27.6 °C | 30 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 28 Jul after | 27.4 °C | 31 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 29 Jul after | 28.8 °C | 35 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 30 Jul after | 29.6 °C | 35 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 31 Jul after | 28.7 °C | 37 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 1 Aug after | 28.9 °C | 42 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 29 |
| 2 Aug after | 30.8 °C | 38 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 3 Aug after | 30.9 °C | 33 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 4 Aug after | 30.8 °C | 30 % | 34 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 · 194Every 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 Mlele fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 July 2019 and 25 July 2019: 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 6,840 hectares (68.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mlele (6,891 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.5 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 44 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 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
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.