Morogoro fire, August 2021 Morogoro
The fire started on 28 August 2021 in Morogoro, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,291 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 108th largest in Morogoro since 2016 (of 137 with a page). Number 111 in Tanzania in 2021, of 135.
- Burnt area
- 3,291ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 28 Aug 2021 – 2 Sept 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 28 Aug
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 85
- in a single hotspot: 30 MW
- Danger at start
- 28
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 89MW
- 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 20 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
2% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 13 ha in 2016, 41 ha in 2020.
What happened to each town
-
Morogoro where it started3,318 ha reached on 25 Aug0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Aug | 31.4 °C | 39 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 29 Aug | 32.4 °C | 37 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 30 Aug | 32.4 °C | 29 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 31 Aug | 32.3 °C | 33 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Sept | 31.2 °C | 44 % | 35 km/h | 0.8 mm | High 25 |
| 2 Sept | 30.5 °C | 44 % | 31 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 24 |
| 3 Sept after | 31.5 °C | 35 % | 34 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 32 |
| 4 Sept after | 30.6 °C | 35 % | 31 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 30 |
| 5 Sept after | 29.5 °C | 49 % | 29 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 27 |
| 6 Sept after | 30.9 °C | 39 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 7 Sept after | 30.6 °C | 39 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 8 Sept after | 31.2 °C | 38 % | 35 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 28 |
| 9 Sept after | 30.3 °C | 48 % | 28 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 26 |
| 10 Sept after | 30.3 °C | 42 % | 37 km/h | 0.8 mm | High 24 |
| 11 Sept after | 29.8 °C | 40 % | 35 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 26 |
| 12 Sept after | 32.4 °C | 31 % | 38 km/h | 0.1 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
- 15,700 haMorogoro29 September 2020 · 14 days · 16 km away
- 10,633 haMorogoro14 October 2016 · 11 days · 20 km away
- 12,370 haMorogoro17 September 2020 · 10 days · 25 km away
- 8,476 haKilombero13 September 2020 · 8 days · 30 km away
- 14,815 haKilombero24 September 2024 · 8 days · 34 km away
- 12,730 haKilosa1 November 2021 · 22 days · 35 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Morogoro fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 August 2021 and 2 September 2021: 6 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 3,291 hectares (32.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Morogoro (3,318 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.4 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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
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.