Binga fire, 16 October 2026 Binga
The fire started on 16 October 2026 in Binga, Zimbabwe, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,892 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 109th largest in Matabeleland North since 2016 (of 487 with a page). Number 36 in Zimbabwe in 2026, of 377.
The power measured by the satellite is low (17.0 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Is it still active?
No detections since 23 Oct 2026, 11:49 UTC. That usually means no flame is visible from space any more, although hotspots may remain. Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
- Burnt area
- 3,892ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 16 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 16 Oct
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 67
- in a single hotspot: 17 MW
- Danger at start
- 34
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 506MW
- 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 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
47% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 725 ha in 2018, 544 ha in 2019, 1,424 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,826 ha that had burned before.
- 1,424 ha Binga fire, September 2022 4,109 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 725 ha Binga fire, October 2018 1,344 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 544 ha Binga fire, September 2019 1,285 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Binga where it started3,916 ha reached on 16 Oct0.3 %
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 Oct | 35.2 °C | 21 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 17 Oct | 34.9 °C | 20 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 18 Oct | 36.2 °C | 17 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 19 Oct | 38.9 °C | 11 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 20 Oct | 40.0 °C | 11 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 21 Oct | 39.7 °C | 11 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 20 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 32 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 24: 1.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 67Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 4,109 haBinga9 September 2022 · 5 days · 2 km away
- 5,313 haBinga12 September 2022 · 7 days · 14 km away
- 6,794 haBinga14 September 2025 · 7 days · 17 km away
- 3,805 haBinga27 September 2026 · 2 days · 21 km away
- 6,132 haBinga 16 October 2026 · 6 days · 23 km away
- 5,162 haBinga22 July 2026 · 4 days · 24 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Binga fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 October 2026 and 23 October 2026: 8 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 3,892 hectares (38.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Binga (3,916 ha, 0.3 %).
- Is the Binga fire still active?
- No fire detections since 23 Oct 2026, 11:49 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 40.0 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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.