Bubi fire, 26 September 2026 Bubi, Lupane
The fire started on 26 September 2026 in Bubi, Zimbabwe, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,709 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 122th largest in Matabeleland North since 2016 (of 487 with a page). Number 43 in Zimbabwe in 2026, of 377.
- Burnt area
- 3,709ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 26 Sept 2026 – 28 Sept 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 26 Sept
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 65
- in a single hotspot: 59 MW
- Danger at start
- 49
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 951MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 9.4 mm on 29 Sept.
This area had burned before
91% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 291 ha in 2017, 2,680 ha in 2018, 1,003 ha in 2020, 135 ha in 2021, 1,780 ha in 2022, 1,202 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,358 ha that had burned before.
- 1,558 ha Lupane fire, October 2022 16,870 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,357 ha Bubi fire, August 2018 1,517 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,202 ha Bubi fire, July 2024 5,302 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,192 ha Lupane fire, October 2018 26,727 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,003 ha Bubi fire, August 2020 3,150 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 291 ha Bubi fire, September 2017 5,403 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 222 ha Lupane fire, October 2022 6,552 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 135 ha Bubi fire, October 2021 3,026 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Bubi where it started3,387 ha0.6 %
-
339 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Sept | 33.5 °C | 15 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 27 Sept | 36.9 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 28 Sept | 37.3 °C | 16 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 29 Sept after | 29.2 °C | 40 % | 52 km/h | 9.4 mm | Low 9 |
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 28 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 36 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 21: 1.4 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 · 65Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 16,870 haLupane10 October 2022 · 8 days · 10 km away
- 26,727 haLupane4 October 2018 · 29 days · 13 km away
- 8,255 haUmguzaOctober 2021 · 5 days · 24 km away
- 10,329 haUmguza19 September 2019 · 5 days · 25 km away
- 7,282 haUmguza27 September 2019 · 5 days · 33 km away
- 8,036 haLupane9 September 2019 · 15 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Bubi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 26 September 2026 and 28 September 2026: 3 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 3,709 hectares (37.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bubi (3,387 ha, 0.6 %); Lupane (339 ha, 0.0 %).
- Is the Bubi fire still active?
- No fire detections since 28 Sept 2026, 00:07 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.3 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 65, 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.