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Tunduru fire, 31 October 2016 Tunduru, Namtumbo

Out · last detection 13 Nov 2016, 11:01 UTC

The fire started on 31 October 2016 in Tunduru, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,295 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 36th largest in Ruvuma since 2016 (of 92 with a page). Number 77 in Tanzania in 2016, of 160.

Burnt area
4,295ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
13days
31 Oct 2016 – 12 Nov 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
31 Oct
2016
Heat detections
172
in a single hotspot: 103 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.1GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

13 Nov 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 31 Oct12 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

31123456789101113

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

The weather it burned in

35°high
40km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 9.3 mm on 18 Nov.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Tunduru where it started
    4,286 ha reached on 31 Oct
    0.2 %
  2. Namtumbo
    29 ha reached on 31 Oct
    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)
31 Oct 34.9 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
1 Nov 34.4 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
2 Nov 34.7 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
3 Nov 32.9 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
4 Nov 31.6 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Nov 30.7 °C 41 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm High 32
6 Nov 30.1 °C 44 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm High 29
7 Nov 29.8 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
8 Nov 29.2 °C 45 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm High 27
9 Nov 32.6 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
10 Nov 32.8 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
11 Nov 32.9 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Nov 31.0 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Nov after 32.5 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Nov after 31.4 °C 42 % 38 km/h 0.6 mm High 29
15 Nov after 32.6 °C 33 % 35 km/h 0.5 mm High 30
16 Nov after 33.6 °C 28 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Nov after 32.4 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.5 mm High 33
18 Nov after 29.2 °C 52 % 36 km/h 9.3 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Oct 2016
After · 19 Nov 2016

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 · 172Every 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 Tanzania ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Tunduru fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 31 October 2016 and 12 November 2016: 13 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 4,295 hectares (43.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tunduru (4,286 ha, 0.2 %); Namtumbo (29 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.9 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, 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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

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.