Chikomba fire, October 2026 Chikomba
The fire started on 10 October 2026 in Chikomba, Zimbabwe, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,093 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 10th largest in Mashonaland East since 2016 (of 151 with a page). Number 77 in Zimbabwe in 2026, of 370.
The power measured by the satellite is low (21.9 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 2,093ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 1day
- 10 Oct 2026 – 10 Oct 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 10 Oct
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 24
- in a single hotspot: 22 MW
- Danger at start
- 17
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 194MW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
28% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3 ha in 2016, 433 ha in 2017, 24 ha in 2019, 443 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 593 ha that had burned before.
- 443 ha Chikomba fire, August 2021 1,493 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 433 ha Chikomba fire, September 2017 1,847 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 24 ha Chikomba fire, August 2019 3,042 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3 ha Chikomba fire, July 2016 1,188 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Chikomba where it started2,104 ha reached on 10 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Oct | 28.1 °C | 31 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 11 Oct after | 27.4 °C | 28 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 12 Oct after | 28.9 °C | 29 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 13 Oct after | 30.0 °C | 25 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 14 Oct after | 30.4 °C | 23 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 15 Oct after | 30.6 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 16 Oct after | 29.6 °C | 21 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 17 Oct after | 29.4 °C | 19 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 18 Oct after | 30.4 °C | 21 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
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 12 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 19 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO 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 · 24Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Chikomba fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 10 October 2026 and 10 October 2026: 1 day 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 2,093 hectares (20.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Chikomba (2,104 ha, 0.3 %).
- Is the Chikomba fire still active?
- No fire detections since 10 Oct 2026, 23:24 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.1 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 17, class Moderate.
- 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.