Songwe fire, July 2021 Songwe
The fire started on 24 July 2021 in Songwe, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,199 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 134th largest in Mbeya since 2016 (of 147 with a page). Number 119 in Tanzania in 2021, of 135.
- Burnt area
- 3,199ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 24 Jul 2021 – 29 Jul 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 24 Jul
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 91
- in a single hotspot: 78 MW
- Danger at start
- 31
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 825MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
85% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,050 ha in 2017, 1,446 ha in 2018, 980 ha in 2019, 720 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,715 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Songwe where it started3,153 ha reached on 24 Jul0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Jul | 24.1 °C | 45 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 25 Jul | 21.4 °C | 50 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 26 Jul | 21.3 °C | 45 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 27 Jul | 22.0 °C | 44 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Jul | 22.9 °C | 44 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 29 Jul | 23.2 °C | 49 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 30 Jul after | 22.5 °C | 50 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 31 Jul after | 23.3 °C | 46 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 1 Aug after | 23.3 °C | 49 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 2 Aug after | 23.4 °C | 51 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 3 Aug after | 23.9 °C | 53 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 4 Aug after | 23.4 °C | 57 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 5 Aug after | 23.7 °C | 56 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 6 Aug after | 24.4 °C | 55 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 7 Aug after | 24.2 °C | 51 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 8 Aug after | 24.4 °C | 50 % | 31 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 · 91Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Songwe fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 24 July 2021 and 29 July 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 3,199 hectares (32.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Songwe (3,153 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 24.1 °C, humidity dropped to 44 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, 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.