Skip to content
worldfires
MZ · Mozambique · →

Zumbu fire, September 2016 Zumbu

Out · last detection 19 Sept 2016, 22:40 UTC

The fire started on 16 September 2016 in Zumbu, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,680 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 78th largest in Tete since 2016 (of 114 with a page). Number 129 in Mozambique in 2016, of 194.

Burnt area
3,680ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
16 Sept 2016 – 19 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
16 Sept
2016
Heat detections
148
in a single hotspot: 46 MW
Danger at start
38
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.1GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

19 Sept 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Sept19 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

16171819

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
46km/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. Zumbu where it started
    3,702 ha reached on 14 Sept
    0.3 %

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)
16 Sept 36.8 °C 23 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
17 Sept 37.7 °C 22 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
18 Sept 37.6 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
19 Sept 34.2 °C 25 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
20 Sept after 31.5 °C 34 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
21 Sept after 33.2 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Sept after 35.0 °C 22 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Sept after 36.7 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Sept after 37.7 °C 18 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
25 Sept after 37.4 °C 15 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
26 Sept after 35.7 °C 23 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
27 Sept after 36.3 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
28 Sept after 37.6 °C 20 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Sept after 37.7 °C 19 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Sept 2016
After · 26 Sept 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 · 148Every 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 Mozambique ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Zumbu fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 September 2016 and 19 September 2016: 4 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 3,680 hectares (36.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Zumbu (3,702 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mozambique (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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

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.