Nkhaba fire, August 2016 Nkhaba, Motjane
The fire started on 1 August 2016 in Nkhaba, Eswatini, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,029 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 2th largest in Hhohho since 2016 (of 37 with a page). The largest in Eswatini in 2016, of 6.
- Burnt area
- 4,029ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 1 Aug 2016 – 4 Aug 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- tinkhundla
- Started on
- 1 Aug
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 153
- in a single hotspot: 119 MW
- Danger at start
- 14
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.5GW
- sum of detected power
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 4 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
-
Nkhaba where it started3,666 ha reached on 1 Aug8.8 %
-
379 ha reached on 1 Aug1.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Aug | 14.9 °C | 28 % | 42 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 2 Aug | 17.4 °C | 44 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 3 Aug | 22.8 °C | 21 % | 58 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 4 Aug | 15.6 °C | 22 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 5 Aug after | 19.2 °C | 20 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 6 Aug after | 22.0 °C | 15 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 7 Aug after | 24.6 °C | 13 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 8 Aug after | 20.6 °C | 20 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 9 Aug after | 17.6 °C | 27 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 10 Aug after | 21.2 °C | 8 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 11 Aug after | 22.2 °C | 7 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 12 Aug after | 24.1 °C | 9 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 13 Aug after | 23.8 °C | 10 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 14 Aug after | 26.2 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
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 · 153Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,037 haNkhabaOctober 2020 · 4 days · 6 km away
- 2,454 haNkhabaOctober 2022 · 3 days · 6 km away
- 2,447 haNkhaba23 July 2019 · 3 days · 10 km away
- 2,822 haChief Albert Luthuli21 August 2026 · 3 days · 25 km away
- 3,219 haChief Albert Luthuli2 July 2019 · 4 days · 26 km away
- 5,188 haMaphalaleni19 July 2019 · 3 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Nkhaba fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 1 August 2016 and 4 August 2016: 4 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 4,029 hectares (40.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Nkhaba (3,666 ha, 8.8 %); Motjane (379 ha, 1.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 22.8 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 58 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 22, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Eswatini (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
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 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.