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Murrupula fire, 25 September 2018 Murrupula, Mogovolas, Rapale

Out · last detection 30 Sept 2018, 11:37 UTC

The fire started on 25 September 2018 in Murrupula, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,508 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 277th largest in Nampula since 2016 (of 392 with a page). Number 147 in Mozambique in 2018, of 220.

The power measured by the satellite is low (29.9 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
3,508ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
25 Sept 2018 – 29 Sept 2018
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
25 Sept
2018
Heat detections
132
in a single hotspot: 30 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

30 Sept 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Sept29 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

252627282930

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
39km/h · peak gust
27%lowest humidity

It had gone 14 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.9 mm on 30 Sept.

This area had burned before

57% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,582 ha in 2016, 665 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,984 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Murrupula where it started
    1,744 ha reached on 25 Sept
    0.6 %
  2. Mogovolas
    1,192 ha reached on 27 Sept
    0.2 %
  3. Rapale
    591 ha reached on 27 Sept
    0.2 %

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)
25 Sept 33.1 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
26 Sept 34.1 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Sept 33.4 °C 30 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Sept 33.2 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
29 Sept 33.4 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
30 Sept after 29.7 °C 44 % 52 km/h 2.9 mm Moderate 15

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 18 Sept 2018
After · 6 Oct 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 · 132Every 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 Murrupula fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 September 2018 and 29 September 2018: 5 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 3,508 hectares (35.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Murrupula (1,744 ha, 0.6 %); Mogovolas (1,192 ha, 0.2 %); Rapale (591 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.1 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, class 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.