Songwe fire, June 2016 Songwe, Mlele
The fire started on 17 June 2016 in Songwe, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,275 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 125th largest in Mbeya since 2016 (of 147 with a page). Number 137 in Tanzania in 2016, of 160.
- Burnt area
- 3,275ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 17 Jun 2016 – 21 Jun 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 17 Jun
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 68
- in a single hotspot: 42 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 542MW
- 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 44 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
-
Songwe where it started3,181 ha reached on 17 Jun0.3 %
-
75 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Jun | 25.2 °C | 46 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 18 Jun | 25.9 °C | 43 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 19 Jun | 24.5 °C | 52 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 20 Jun | 25.3 °C | 46 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 21 Jun | 25.7 °C | 49 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 22 Jun after | 25.0 °C | 49 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 23 Jun after | 24.1 °C | 48 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 24 Jun after | 23.0 °C | 50 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 25 Jun after | 23.8 °C | 46 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 26 Jun after | 23.7 °C | 53 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 27 Jun after | 24.4 °C | 48 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 28 Jun after | 24.6 °C | 47 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 29 Jun after | 24.3 °C | 44 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 30 Jun after | 24.7 °C | 41 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 1 Jul after | 25.4 °C | 41 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
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 · 68Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 13,937 haSongwe29 August 2026 · 16 days · 13 km away
- 28,157 haMlele28 August 2017 · 19 days · 20 km away
- 20,520 haMlele17 June 2017 · 13 days · 23 km away
- 50,151 haMlele15 August 2016 · 43 days · 24 km away
- 34,561 haMlele28 June 2016 · 25 days · 25 km away
- 21,840 haMlele12 September 2025 · 26 days · 31 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Songwe fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 June 2016 and 21 June 2016: 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 3,275 hectares (32.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Songwe (3,181 ha, 0.3 %); Mlele (75 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 25.9 °C, humidity dropped to 43 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 23, 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.