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Molumbo fire, 13 September 2018 Molumbo, Lugela

Out · last detection 22 Sept 2018, 10:47 UTC

The fire started on 13 September 2018 in Molumbo, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,186 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 488th largest in Zambézia since 2016 (of 842 with a page). Number 112 in Mozambique in 2018, of 220.

Burnt area
4,186ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
13 Sept 2018 – 21 Sept 2018
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
13 Sept
2018
Heat detections
173
in a single hotspot: 60 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 Sept 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Sept21 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

13141516171819202122

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

33°high
42km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 30 Sept.

This area had burned before

60% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,420 ha in 2016, 1,169 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Molumbo where it started
    2,417 ha reached on 13 Sept
    0.6 %
  2. Lugela
    1,791 ha reached on 13 Sept
    0.3 %

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)
13 Sept 30.5 °C 34 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
14 Sept 31.8 °C 31 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
15 Sept 32.4 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
16 Sept 32.8 °C 25 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
17 Sept 31.5 °C 27 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
18 Sept 32.7 °C 24 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Sept 32.7 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
20 Sept 33.4 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
21 Sept 31.9 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
22 Sept after 28.9 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Sept after 30.7 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
24 Sept after 31.1 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 Sept after 31.9 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Sept after 33.8 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
27 Sept after 33.9 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
28 Sept after 32.6 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Sept after 33.3 °C 25 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
30 Sept after 28.0 °C 48 % 55 km/h 1.0 mm High 25

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 6 Sept 2018
After · 28 Sept 2018

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 · 173Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Mozambique ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Molumbo fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 13 September 2018 and 21 September 2018: 9 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 4,186 hectares (41.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Molumbo (2,417 ha, 0.6 %); Lugela (1,791 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.4 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, 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.

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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.