Chitipa fire, 11 August 2020 Chitipa
The fire started on 11 August 2020 in Chitipa, Malawi, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,802 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 78th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 418 with a page). Number 15 in Malawi in 2020, of 87.
- Burnt area
- 2,802ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 11 Aug 2020 – 14 Aug 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 11 Aug
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 84
- in a single hotspot: 60 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.0GW
- 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 14 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.1 mm on 22 Aug.
This area had burned before
60% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 986 ha in 2016, 277 ha in 2018, 729 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,670 ha that had burned before.
- 695 ha Chitipa fire, July 2019 1,218 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 480 ha Chitipa fire, July 2016 1,594 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 374 ha Chitipa fire, August 2016 1,145 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 189 ha Chitipa fire, August 2018 1,132 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 132 ha Chitipa fire, July 2016 7,693 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 88 ha Chitipa fire, August 2018 3,635 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 34 ha Rumphi fire, August 2019 3,093 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Chitipa where it started2,824 ha reached on 11 Aug0.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Aug | 20.2 °C | 31 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 12 Aug | 21.1 °C | 32 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 13 Aug | 21.0 °C | 30 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 14 Aug | 19.9 °C | 32 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 15 Aug after | 20.4 °C | 29 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 16 Aug after | 20.9 °C | 30 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 17 Aug after | 20.9 °C | 32 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 18 Aug after | 21.1 °C | 32 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 19 Aug after | 22.6 °C | 27 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 20 Aug after | 20.7 °C | 34 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 21 Aug after | 19.3 °C | 37 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 22 Aug after | 16.6 °C | 53 % | 37 km/h | 2.1 mm | Low 6 |
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 · 84Every 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 11 August 2020 and 14 August 2020: 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 2,802 hectares (28.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Chitipa (2,824 ha, 0.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 21.1 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 22, class High.
- 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.