Fires in Botswana
Fires in Botswana
27September 2006
Huge bush fires that raged for weeks consumed several hundred square kilometers of savannah throughout Botswana.
The annual migration of zebra and wildebeest could be seriously threatened by the fires. Researchers have suggested that due to the new fence lines that prevent free movement and access to alternative grazing, the migrating animals could have been wiped out within a week in certain areas.
Between 24 and 26 September 2006, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite captured these images of the area. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fire are outlined in red. The high resolution images provided below have a spatial resolution of 250 m.
AQUA
24 – 26 September 2006
24 September 2006
25 September 2006
26 September 2006
Botswana’s fire fighting resources are very limited at the very moment to cope with the magnitude of these fires andis in need of international assistance. AfriFireNet is currently involved to facilitate international assistance with the recentemergency situation.
For background information on the Fire Situation in Africa see:
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IFFN Country Reports on Central African countries
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The South African Working on Fire Programme
