Moatize fire, 22 September 2017 Moatize
The fire started on 22 September 2017 in Moatize, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,437 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 91th largest in Tete since 2016 (of 114 with a page). Number 146 in Mozambique in 2017, of 196.
- Burnt area
- 3,437ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 22 Sept 2017 – 27 Sept 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 22 Sept
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 121
- in a single hotspot: 99 MW
- Danger at start
- 30
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.2GW
- 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 32 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,841 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,605 ha that had burned before.
- 1,633 ha Moatize fire, September 2016 12,910 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 600 ha Moatize fire, September 2016 6,906 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 19 ha Moatize fire, September 2016 5,314 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Moatize where it started3,450 ha reached on 22 Sept0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Sept | 30.0 °C | 35 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 23 Sept | 33.0 °C | 23 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 24 Sept | 27.8 °C | 36 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 25 Sept | 30.3 °C | 33 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 26 Sept | 35.9 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 27 Sept | 35.8 °C | 21 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 28 Sept after | 30.8 °C | 40 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 29 Sept after | 27.7 °C | 51 % | 48 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 33 |
| 30 Sept after | 29.9 °C | 39 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 1 Oct after | 29.4 °C | 39 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 2 Oct after | 30.8 °C | 38 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 3 Oct after | 31.5 °C | 33 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 4 Oct after | 33.7 °C | 27 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 5 Oct after | 34.7 °C | 21 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 6 Oct after | 33.3 °C | 30 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 7 Oct after | 33.7 °C | 28 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
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 · 121Every 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 Moatize fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 September 2017 and 27 September 2017: 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 3,437 hectares (34.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Moatize (3,450 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, class Very 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.