Skip to content
worldfires
ZM · Zambia · →

Monze fire, June 2016 Mazabuka, Monze

Out · last detection 22 Jun 2016, 12:41 UTC

The fire started on 7 June 2016 in Monze, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,842 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 9th largest in Southern since 2016 (of 58 with a page). Number 66 in Zambia in 2016, of 246.

Burnt area
6,842ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
7 Jun 2016 – 22 Jun 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
7 Jun
2016
Heat detections
243
in a single hotspot: 0 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Energy released
4.1GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 Jun 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 7 Jun22 Jun

How it evolved, day by day

789101112141516171819202122

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

The weather it burned in

27°high
48km/h · peak gust
26%lowest humidity

It had gone 58 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Mazabuka
    4,533 ha
    1.1 %
  2. Monze where it started
    2,344 ha
    0.5 %

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)
7 Jun 24.6 °C 41 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
8 Jun 24.0 °C 36 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
9 Jun 23.5 °C 35 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
10 Jun 23.7 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Jun 24.9 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
12 Jun 25.1 °C 29 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
13 Jun 20.8 °C 49 % 47 km/h 0.2 mm High 33
14 Jun 23.4 °C 39 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
15 Jun 25.4 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
16 Jun 26.1 °C 35 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
17 Jun 26.6 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
18 Jun 25.7 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
19 Jun 25.6 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
20 Jun 26.1 °C 26 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
21 Jun 26.3 °C 30 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Jun 24.8 °C 28 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
23 Jun after 22.5 °C 35 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
24 Jun after 21.3 °C 44 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
25 Jun after 21.9 °C 39 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
26 Jun after 23.4 °C 41 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Jun after 24.3 °C 39 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
28 Jun after 25.6 °C 37 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
29 Jun after 26.7 °C 36 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
30 Jun after 25.8 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
1 Jul after 26.0 °C 31 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
2 Jul after 27.8 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 31 May 2016
After · 29 Jun 2016

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 · 0Every 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 Zambia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Monze fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 7 June 2016 and 22 June 2016: 16 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 6,842 hectares (68.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mazabuka (4,533 ha, 1.1 %); Monze (2,344 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 26.6 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 48 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 Zambia (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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

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 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.