Chitipa fire, 20 October 2017 Chitipa, Rumphi
The fire started on 20 October 2017 in Chitipa, Malawi, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,007 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 47th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 420 with a page). Number 9 in Malawi in 2017, of 62.
- Burnt area
- 4,007ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 20 Oct 2017 – 23 Oct 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 20 Oct
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 122
- in a single hotspot: 142 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.8GW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.8 mm on 29 Oct.
This area had burned before
18% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 728 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Chitipa where it started2,813 ha reached on 21 Oct0.7 %
-
1,038 ha reached on 21 Oct0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct | 26.1 °C | 23 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 21 Oct | 24.8 °C | 19 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 22 Oct | 23.0 °C | 33 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 23 Oct | 23.9 °C | 34 % | 44 km/h | 0.4 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 24 Oct after | 25.0 °C | 28 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 25 Oct after | 23.6 °C | 41 % | 44 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 26 Oct after | 25.8 °C | 30 % | 36 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 27 Oct after | 26.3 °C | 23 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 28 Oct after | 24.1 °C | 35 % | 43 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 29 Oct after | 20.8 °C | 49 % | 60 km/h | 1.8 mm | Low 7 |
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.
Detections table · 122Every 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 Chitipa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 October 2017 and 23 October 2017: 4 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 4,007 hectares (40.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Chitipa (2,813 ha, 0.7 %); Rumphi (1,038 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 26.1 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 21, class Moderate.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Malawi (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.