Umguza fire, October 2021 Umguza
The fire started on 12 October 2021 in Umguza, Zimbabwe, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 8,255 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 28th largest in Matabeleland North since 2016 (of 484 with a page). Number 5 in Zimbabwe in 2021, of 176.
- Burnt area
- 8,255ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 12 Oct 2021 – 16 Oct 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 12 Oct
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 245
- in a single hotspot: 251 MW
- Danger at start
- 43
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.4GW
- 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 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 18 Oct.
This area had burned before
76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,133 ha in 2016, 1,148 ha in 2017, 5,910 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,299 ha that had burned before.
- 4,580 ha Umguza fire, September 2019 10,329 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,133 ha Umguza fire, July 2016 2,501 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,330 ha Umguza fire, September 2019 5,380 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 880 ha Umguza fire, October 2017 3,995 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 267 ha Umguza fire, October 2017 1,302 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Umguza where it started8,282 ha reached on 12 Oct1.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Oct | 30.5 °C | 13 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 13 Oct | 33.9 °C | 7 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 14 Oct | 34.5 °C | 10 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 15 Oct | 34.9 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 16 Oct | 36.8 °C | 11 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 17 Oct after | 36.3 °C | 16 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 18 Oct after | 26.9 °C | 47 % | 52 km/h | 1.4 mm | High 23 |
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 · 245Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 10,329 haUmguza19 September 2019 · 5 days · 1 km away
- 7,282 haUmguza27 September 2019 · 5 days · 11 km away
- 7,141 haUmguza15 October 2017 · 4 days · 30 km away
- 6,552 haLupane2 October 2022 · 4 days · 30 km away
- 16,870 haLupane10 October 2022 · 8 days · 32 km away
- 6,867 haUmguza7 October 2022 · 11 days · 34 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Umguza fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 October 2021 and 16 October 2021: 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 8,255 hectares (82.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Umguza (8,282 ha, 1.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zimbabwe (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.
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.