Mlele fire, October 2025 Mlele
The fire started on 21 October 2025 in Mlele, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,717 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 180th largest in Katavi since 2016 (of 271 with a page). Number 106 in Tanzania in 2025, of 161.
The power measured by the satellite is low (28.1 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 3,717ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 21 Oct 2025 – 25 Oct 2025
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 21 Oct
- 2025
- Heat detections
- 59
- in a single hotspot: 28 MW
- Danger at start
- 26
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 429MW
- 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
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,493 ha in 2016, 2,476 ha in 2017, 1,195 ha in 2018, 2,106 ha in 2020, 2,141 ha in 2021, 55 ha in 2022, 1,719 ha in 2023, 2,350 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,741 ha that had burned before.
- 2,106 ha Mlele fire, August 2020 9,467 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,526 ha Mlele fire, July 2021 8,840 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,322 ha Mlele fire, June 2016 34,561 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,086 ha Mlele fire, June 2017 20,520 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 901 ha Mlele fire, August 2017 28,157 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 615 ha Mlele fire, October 2021 7,669 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 424 ha Mlele fire, August 2016 50,151 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 18 ha Mlele fire, June 2022 4,826 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Mlele where it started3,748 ha reached on 21 Oct0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Oct | 26.7 °C | 39 % | 29 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 26 |
| 22 Oct | 26.5 °C | 44 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 23 Oct | 27.1 °C | 41 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 24 Oct | 27.6 °C | 42 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 25 Oct | 28.5 °C | 36 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 26 Oct after | 27.5 °C | 49 % | 26 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 25 |
| 27 Oct after | 27.3 °C | 48 % | 24 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 24 |
| 28 Oct after | 28.2 °C | 43 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 29 Oct after | 27.8 °C | 42 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 30 Oct after | 27.6 °C | 39 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 31 Oct after | 27.6 °C | 36 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 1 Nov after | 26.9 °C | 39 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 2 Nov after | 27.4 °C | 37 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 3 Nov after | 27.5 °C | 37 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 4 Nov after | 26.9 °C | 39 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 24 October 2025 the air beside the fire reached 65 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 49: 3.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 59Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 28,157 haMlele28 August 2017 · 19 days · 12 km away
- 20,520 haMlele17 June 2017 · 13 days · 15 km away
- 34,561 haMlele28 June 2016 · 25 days · 16 km away
- 50,151 haMlele15 August 2016 · 43 days · 18 km away
- 21,840 haMlele12 September 2025 · 26 days · 22 km away
- 14,689 haMlele9 September 2022 · 19 days · 22 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mlele fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 October 2025 and 25 October 2025: 5 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 3,717 hectares (37.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mlele (3,748 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.5 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 29 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 30, 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.