Moatize fire, 26 September 2020 Moatize
The fire started on 26 September 2020 in Moatize, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,015 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 113th largest in Tete since 2016 (of 114 with a page). Number 191 in Mozambique in 2020, of 193.
- Burnt area
- 3,015ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 26 Sept 2020 – 3 Oct 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 26 Sept
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 120
- in a single hotspot: 74 MW
- Danger at start
- 39
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 140MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.1 mm on 10 Oct.
This area had burned before
84% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,468 ha in 2016, 1,829 ha in 2017, 693 ha in 2018, 430 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,534 ha that had burned before.
- 1,438 ha Moatize fire, September 2016 12,910 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 430 ha Moatize fire, September 2019 4,917 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 95 ha Moatize fire, September 2018 9,645 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Moatize where it started3,026 ha reached on 19 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Sept | 33.3 °C | 18 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 27 Sept | 34.3 °C | 22 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 28 Sept | 32.8 °C | 27 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 29 Sept | 31.4 °C | 30 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 30 Sept | 29.2 °C | 40 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 1 Oct | 31.8 °C | 26 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 2 Oct | 33.8 °C | 20 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 3 Oct | 32.8 °C | 26 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 4 Oct after | 33.1 °C | 27 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 5 Oct after | 29.0 °C | 46 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 6 Oct after | 26.4 °C | 49 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 7 Oct after | 25.7 °C | 47 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 8 Oct after | 27.9 °C | 44 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 9 Oct after | 29.9 °C | 41 % | 24 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 10 Oct after | 33.5 °C | 36 % | 38 km/h | 3.1 mm | Low 11 |
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 · 120Every 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 26 September 2020 and 3 October 2020: 8 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 3,015 hectares (30.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Moatize (3,026 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.3 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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.