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Chitambo fire, 28 August 2026 Chitambo, Lavushimanda

Out · last detection 14 Sept 2026, 12:04 UTC

The fire started on 28 August 2026 in Chitambo, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,311 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 146th largest in Central since 2016 (of 400 with a page). Number 206 in Zambia in 2026, of 604.

The power measured by the satellite is low (16.1 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
5,311ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
18days
28 Aug 2026 – 14 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
28 Aug
2026
Heat detections
65
in a single hotspot: 16 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Energy released
387MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

14 Sept 2026
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 28 Aug14 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

282930311234710111314

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

The weather it burned in

29°high
54km/h · peak gust
29%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.9 mm on 21 Sept.

This area had burned before

94% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,684 ha in 2016, 1,450 ha in 2017, 3,403 ha in 2019, 890 ha in 2020, 2,731 ha in 2021, 1,044 ha in 2022, 230 ha in 2023, 2,462 ha in 2024, 388 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,977 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Chitambo where it started
    3,357 ha reached on 28 Aug
    0.3 %
  2. Lavushimanda
    1,984 ha reached on 1 Sept
    0.1 %

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)
28 Aug 23.1 °C 43 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Aug 25.6 °C 38 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
30 Aug 27.4 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
31 Aug 27.4 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
1 Sept 27.3 °C 33 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
2 Sept 26.9 °C 34 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
3 Sept 28.5 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
4 Sept 28.6 °C 31 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
5 Sept 27.5 °C 37 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
6 Sept 27.1 °C 39 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
7 Sept 26.6 °C 40 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
8 Sept 24.8 °C 39 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
9 Sept 21.9 °C 49 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
10 Sept 25.5 °C 39 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
11 Sept 27.2 °C 33 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Sept 28.1 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
13 Sept 27.9 °C 32 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
14 Sept 28.4 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
15 Sept after 28.3 °C 28 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Sept after 27.9 °C 25 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
17 Sept after 27.4 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
18 Sept after 27.5 °C 31 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Sept after 27.3 °C 37 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
20 Sept after 27.6 °C 37 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
21 Sept after 25.3 °C 45 % 41 km/h 2.9 mm Low 10

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 21 Aug 2026
After · 21 Sept 2026

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 · Copernicus

On 5 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 63 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 38: 2.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak63 µg/m³
Days over the guideline23 days
PM1068 µg/m³
Optical depth1.39
2627282930311234567891011121314151617
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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.
⬇ 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 Zambia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Chitambo fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 28 August 2026 to 14 September 2026 (18 days). The perimeter dates it from 28 August 2026 to 7 September 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,311 hectares (53.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Chitambo (3,357 ha, 0.3 %); Lavushimanda (1,984 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.6 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zambia (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.

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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 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.