Moatize fire, 14 September 2021 Moatize
The fire started on 14 September 2021 in Moatize, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,836 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 70th largest in Tete since 2016 (of 115 with a page). Number 139 in Mozambique in 2021, of 233.
- Burnt area
- 3,836ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 14 Sept 2021 – 17 Sept 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 14 Sept
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 85
- in a single hotspot: 41 MW
- Danger at start
- 34
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.1GW
- 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 49 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
87% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,680 ha in 2016, 1,828 ha in 2017, 647 ha in 2018, 1,972 ha in 2019, 1,237 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,354 ha that had burned before.
- 1,972 ha Moatize fire, September 2019 4,820 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,680 ha Moatize fire, September 2016 17,344 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2 ha Moatize fire, September 2017 8,324 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Moatize where it started3,848 ha reached on 12 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Sept | 32.4 °C | 24 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 15 Sept | 33.1 °C | 21 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 16 Sept | 34.2 °C | 25 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 17 Sept | 35.9 °C | 21 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 18 Sept after | 23.6 °C | 62 % | 58 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 30 |
| 19 Sept after | 23.9 °C | 51 % | 44 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 25 |
| 20 Sept after | 28.5 °C | 27 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 21 Sept after | 32.0 °C | 25 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 22 Sept after | 25.2 °C | 48 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 23 Sept after | 25.2 °C | 51 % | 42 km/h | 0.8 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 24 Sept after | 29.2 °C | 36 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 25 Sept after | 31.3 °C | 28 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 26 Sept after | 32.2 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 27 Sept after | 32.6 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
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 · 85Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 17,344 haMoatize5 September 2016 · 7 days · 10 km away
- 8,324 haMoatize9 September 2017 · 10 days · 14 km away
- 12,910 haMoatize15 September 2016 · 15 days · 17 km away
- 9,645 haMoatizeSeptember 2018 · 10 days · 18 km away
- 11,621 haChiuta24 August 2026 · 18 days · 22 km away
- 8,906 haChiutaAugust 2018 · 12 days · 25 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Moatize fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 September 2021 and 17 September 2021: 4 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 3,836 hectares (38.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Moatize (3,848 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, 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.