How long did the Iringa fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 July 2026 to 2 September 2026 (45 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 July 2026 to 2 September 2026.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 75,347 hectares (753.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Iringa (75,670 ha, 4.0 %); Manyoni (130 ha, 0.0 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 28.9 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class High.

Where does this data come from?

From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Tanzania (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

TZ · Tanzania · 2026-07-20 → 2026-09-02

Iringa fire, 20 July 2026 Iringa, Manyoni

Out · last detection 2 Sept 2026, 10:49 UTC

The fire started on 20 July 2026 in Iringa, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 45 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 75,347 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

It is the 5th largest in Iringa since 2016 (of 71 with a page). Number 3 in Tanzania in 2026, of 196.

Burnt area: 75,347ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 45days; 20 Jul 2026 – 2 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit: 2; districts
Started on: 20 Jul; 2026
Heat detections: 1,580; in a single hotspot: 127 MW
Danger at start: 28; High · FWI index
Energy released: 11.3GW; sum of detected power

Play back 2 Sept 2026

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Jul2 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

2022232425262728293031124567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303112

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

38km/h · peak gust

23%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

94% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 46,207 ha in 2016, 11,671 ha in 2017, 38,236 ha in 2018, 39,174 ha in 2019, 31,154 ha in 2020, 33,066 ha in 2021, 2,390 ha in 2022, 18,627 ha in 2023, 27,424 ha in 2024, 8,896 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 70,743 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

Iringa where it started

75,670 ha reached on 20 Jul

4.0 %
Manyoni

130 ha reached on 20 Jul

0.0 %

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)
22 Jul	28.9 °C	37 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
23 Jul	28.2 °C	29 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
24 Jul	27.5 °C	32 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
25 Jul	27.1 °C	33 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
26 Jul	27.3 °C	33 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
27 Jul	27.1 °C	33 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
28 Jul	27.1 °C	34 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
29 Jul	26.7 °C	36 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
30 Jul	26.9 °C	41 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
31 Jul	27.2 °C	33 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
1 Aug	26.4 °C	33 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
2 Aug	26.2 °C	30 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
3 Aug	25.5 °C	41 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
4 Aug	25.5 °C	43 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
5 Aug	26.3 °C	45 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
6 Aug	26.9 °C	43 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
7 Aug	27.3 °C	40 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
8 Aug	25.5 °C	42 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
9 Aug	26.6 °C	37 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
10 Aug	27.4 °C	30 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
11 Aug	27.9 °C	30 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
12 Aug	28.0 °C	23 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
13 Aug	28.3 °C	30 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
14 Aug	28.0 °C	32 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
15 Aug	25.0 °C	40 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
16 Aug	25.8 °C	41 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
17 Aug	26.3 °C	39 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
18 Aug	26.3 °C	37 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
19 Aug	27.1 °C	32 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
20 Aug	26.2 °C	34 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
21 Aug	27.0 °C	33 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
22 Aug	28.1 °C	34 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
23 Aug	27.3 °C	40 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
24 Aug	28.8 °C	37 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
25 Aug	27.9 °C	35 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
26 Aug	28.2 °C	33 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
27 Aug	27.7 °C	36 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
28 Aug	27.5 °C	32 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
29 Aug	27.0 °C	32 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
30 Aug	27.7 °C	33 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
31 Aug	27.5 °C	37 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
1 Sept	26.9 °C	38 %	35 km/h	0.1 mm	High 34
2 Sept	28.2 °C	31 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
3 Sept after	27.9 °C	30 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
4 Sept after	29.4 °C	31 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
5 Sept after	30.4 °C	28 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
6 Sept after	28.5 °C	35 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
7 Sept after	27.7 °C	35 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
8 Sept after	27.0 °C	35 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
9 Sept after	27.3 °C	31 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
10 Sept after	26.9 °C	36 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
11 Sept after	26.5 °C	40 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
12 Sept after	28.1 °C	35 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 13 Jul 2026

After · 9 Sept 2026

Before After

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 2 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 36 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 24: 1.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak36 µg/m³

Days over the guideline17 days

PM1037 µg/m³

Optical depth0.63

WHO 15

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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 · 1,580Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Tanzania ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Iringa fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 July 2026 to 2 September 2026 (45 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 July 2026 to 2 September 2026.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 75,347 hectares (753.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Iringa (75,670 ha, 4.0 %); Manyoni (130 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 28.9 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class High.
Where does this data come from?: From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Tanzania (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.

Emergency number: 112

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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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What really happened?

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We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

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.

Where it burned