Skip to content
worldfires
TZ · Tanzania · →

Tunduru fire, September 2017 Tunduru, Liwale

Out · last detection 29 Sept 2017, 11:01 UTC

The fire started on 24 September 2017 in Tunduru, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,374 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 69th largest in Ruvuma since 2016 (of 90 with a page). Number 79 in Tanzania in 2017, of 104.

Burnt area
3,374ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
24 Sept 2017 – 28 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
24 Sept
2017
Heat detections
96
in a single hotspot: 48 MW
Danger at start
28
High · FWI index
Energy released
565MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

29 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 24 Sept28 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

242526272829

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

The weather it burned in

32°high
38km/h · peak gust
29%lowest humidity

It had gone 34 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

  1. Tunduru where it started
    2,210 ha reached on 24 Sept
    0.1 %
  2. Liwale
    1,185 ha reached on 26 Sept
    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)
24 Sept 29.6 °C 33 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
25 Sept 28.4 °C 36 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
26 Sept 29.7 °C 35 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Sept 31.9 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Sept 30.5 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
29 Sept after 29.1 °C 46 % 35 km/h 0.8 mm High 22
30 Sept after 28.2 °C 44 % 39 km/h 0.6 mm High 24
1 Oct after 30.3 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
2 Oct after 29.8 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
3 Oct after 30.7 °C 27 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
4 Oct after 30.2 °C 39 % 33 km/h 0.4 mm High 33
5 Oct after 29.7 °C 43 % 31 km/h 0.2 mm High 30
6 Oct after 30.4 °C 35 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
7 Oct after 29.6 °C 40 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
8 Oct after 27.9 °C 48 % 34 km/h 0.3 mm High 28

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 17 Sept 2017
After · 5 Oct 2017

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 · 96Every 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 24 September 2017 and 28 September 2017: 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 3,374 hectares (33.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tunduru (2,210 ha, 0.1 %); Liwale (1,185 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.9 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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.