Skip to content
worldfires
TZ · Tanzania · →

Morogoro fire, 14 October 2016 Kilosa, Morogoro

Out · last detection 27 Oct 2016, 22:25 UTC

The fire started on 14 October 2016 in Morogoro, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,607 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 22th largest in Morogoro since 2016 (of 136 with a page). Number 24 in Tanzania in 2016, of 160.

Burnt area
9,607ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
14days
14 Oct 2016 – 27 Oct 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
14 Oct
2016
Heat detections
347
in a single hotspot: 56 MW
Danger at start
27
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

27 Oct 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Oct27 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

141517192021222324252627

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

The weather it burned in

32°high
40km/h · peak gust
31%lowest humidity

It had gone 14 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. Kilosa
    5,171 ha reached on 14 Oct
    0.4 %
  2. Morogoro where it started
    4,507 ha reached on 12 Oct
    0.4 %

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 Oct 28.7 °C 45 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
15 Oct 29.1 °C 42 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
16 Oct 29.9 °C 41 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
17 Oct 30.6 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
18 Oct 30.5 °C 34 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 Oct 28.8 °C 40 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
20 Oct 30.0 °C 35 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
21 Oct 28.9 °C 43 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm High 28
22 Oct 30.8 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
23 Oct 30.7 °C 36 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
24 Oct 30.3 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
25 Oct 31.8 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Oct 30.3 °C 39 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Oct 31.4 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.4 mm High 32
28 Oct after 31.6 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Oct after 31.8 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.5 mm High 30
30 Oct after 33.0 °C 39 % 31 km/h 0.3 mm High 30
31 Oct after 33.2 °C 36 % 33 km/h 0.5 mm High 31
1 Nov after 32.4 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm High 31
2 Nov after 32.8 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
3 Nov after 31.9 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
4 Nov after 31.9 °C 33 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
5 Nov after 30.1 °C 45 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
6 Nov after 30.6 °C 38 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 32

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Oct 2016
After · 3 Nov 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 · 347Every 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 Tanzania ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Morogoro fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 October 2016 and 27 October 2016: 14 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 9,607 hectares (96.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kilosa (5,171 ha, 0.4 %); Morogoro (4,507 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.8 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Tanzania (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.

Emergency number: 112

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. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

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.