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Tutume fire, 31 August 2017 Tutume

Out · last detection 2 Sept 2017, 12:45 UTC

The fire started on 31 August 2017 in Tutume, Botswana, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,832 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 130th largest in Central District since 2016 (of 205 with a page). Number 142 in Botswana in 2017, of 196.

Burnt area
2,832ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
2days
31 Aug 2017 – 1 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
1
subdistricts
Started on
31 Aug
2017
Heat detections
70
in a single hotspot: 65 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.4GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

2 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 31 Aug1 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

3112

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

The weather it burned in

28°high
28km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months 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. Tutume where it started
    2,853 ha reached on 31 Aug
    0.1 %

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 Aug 27.7 °C 21 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
1 Sept 26.4 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
2 Sept after 25.9 °C 40 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
3 Sept after 24.6 °C 34 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Sept after 23.9 °C 34 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
5 Sept after 24.7 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
6 Sept after 26.2 °C 21 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
7 Sept after 26.9 °C 28 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
8 Sept after 27.9 °C 29 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
9 Sept after 28.3 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
10 Sept after 28.1 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
11 Sept after 28.6 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Aug 2017
After · 8 Sept 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 · 70Every 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 Botswana ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Tutume fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 31 August 2017 and 1 September 2017: 2 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 2,832 hectares (28.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Tutume (2,853 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 27.7 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Botswana (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.

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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 (Public Domain). 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.