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Namuno fire, August 2019 Montepuez, Namuno, Balama

Out · last detection 15 Aug 2019, 10:16 UTC

The fire started on 7 August 2019 in Namuno, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,773 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 69th largest in Cabo Delgado since 2016 (of 120 with a page). Number 122 in Mozambique in 2019, of 212.

The power measured by the satellite is low (22.8 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
3,773ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
7 Aug 2019 – 15 Aug 2019
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
7 Aug
2019
Heat detections
115
in a single hotspot: 23 MW
Danger at start
29
High · FWI index
Energy released
874MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

15 Aug 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 7 Aug15 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

7891011121315

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

The weather it burned in

29°high
42km/h · peak gust
32%lowest humidity

It had gone 37 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

65% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,261 ha in 2016, 663 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,463 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Montepuez
    1,981 ha reached on 9 Aug
    0.1 %
  2. Namuno where it started
    1,578 ha reached on 6 Aug
    0.3 %
  3. Balama
    241 ha reached on 9 Aug
    0.0 %

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 Aug 28.3 °C 32 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
8 Aug 27.8 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
9 Aug 28.9 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
10 Aug 27.6 °C 32 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
11 Aug 25.9 °C 44 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
12 Aug 26.8 °C 43 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
13 Aug 27.5 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
14 Aug 27.1 °C 41 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
15 Aug 27.3 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
16 Aug after 27.7 °C 39 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Aug after 27.9 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
18 Aug after 26.6 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Aug after 27.3 °C 36 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
20 Aug after 27.0 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
21 Aug after 26.1 °C 39 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
22 Aug after 25.6 °C 45 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
23 Aug after 23.6 °C 52 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
24 Aug after 27.6 °C 48 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 Aug after 29.4 °C 41 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 27

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 31 Jul 2019
After · 22 Aug 2019

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 · 115Every 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 Namuno fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 7 August 2019 and 15 August 2019: 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 3,773 hectares (37.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Montepuez (1,981 ha, 0.1 %); Namuno (1,578 ha, 0.3 %); Balama (241 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.9 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, 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.