How long did the Iringa fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 19 August 2026 to 2 October 2026 (45 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 August 2026 to 27 September 2026.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 113,063 hectares (1,130.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 4 municipalities: Chunya (49,615 ha, 2.8 %); Iringa (43,079 ha, 2.3 %); Mbarali (13,511 ha, 0.9 %); Manyoni (7,551 ha, 0.3 %).

Is the Iringa fire still active?

No fire detections since 3 Oct 2026, 23:52 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 31.3 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, class Very 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 · 2026-08-19 → 2026-10-02

Iringa fire, 19 August 2026 Chunya, Iringa, Mbarali

Out · last detection 3 Oct 2026, 23:52 UTC

The fire started on 19 August 2026 in Iringa, Tanzania, and satellites saw it burning for 45 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 113,063 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 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 3th largest in Iringa since 2016 (of 71 with a page). The largest in Tanzania in 2026, of 196.

Burnt area: 113,063ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 45days; 19 Aug 2026 – 2 Oct 2026
Municipalities hit: 4; districts
Started on: 19 Aug; 2026
Heat detections: 2,808; in a single hotspot: 162 MW
Danger at start: 34; High · FWI index
Energy released: 25.3GW; sum of detected power

Play back 3 Oct 2026

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Aug2 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272830123

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

The weather it burned in

31°high

45km/h · peak gust

24%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

98% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 54,394 ha in 2016, 50,514 ha in 2017, 36,732 ha in 2018, 42,247 ha in 2019, 38,375 ha in 2020, 47,452 ha in 2021, 31,346 ha in 2022, 37,304 ha in 2023, 41,617 ha in 2024, 21,555 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 111,097 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

Chunya

49,615 ha reached on 21 Aug

2.8 %
Iringa where it started

43,079 ha reached on 19 Aug

2.3 %
Mbarali

13,511 ha reached on 24 Aug

0.9 %
Manyoni

7,551 ha reached on 19 Aug

0.3 %

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)
23 Aug	27.7 °C	38 %	36 km/h	0.1 mm	High 34
24 Aug	29.0 °C	34 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
25 Aug	27.7 °C	34 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
26 Aug	28.8 °C	29 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
27 Aug	27.7 °C	35 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
28 Aug	27.6 °C	31 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
29 Aug	27.5 °C	30 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
30 Aug	27.7 °C	32 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
31 Aug	27.6 °C	36 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
1 Sept	26.9 °C	36 %	39 km/h	0.1 mm	High 37
2 Sept	28.6 °C	29 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
3 Sept	28.5 °C	28 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
4 Sept	30.1 °C	27 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
5 Sept	31.3 °C	24 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
6 Sept	28.9 °C	32 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
7 Sept	28.3 °C	32 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
8 Sept	27.2 °C	34 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
9 Sept	27.3 °C	30 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
10 Sept	27.4 °C	32 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
11 Sept	27.0 °C	36 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
12 Sept	28.4 °C	32 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
13 Sept	27.1 °C	36 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
14 Sept	30.2 °C	33 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
15 Sept	28.0 °C	36 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
16 Sept	27.3 °C	32 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
17 Sept	27.0 °C	32 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
18 Sept	27.1 °C	36 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
19 Sept	29.3 °C	25 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
20 Sept	29.8 °C	27 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
21 Sept	29.8 °C	31 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
22 Sept	30.0 °C	30 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
23 Sept	30.1 °C	30 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
24 Sept	30.2 °C	32 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
25 Sept	29.7 °C	36 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
26 Sept	29.8 °C	34 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
27 Sept	29.6 °C	28 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
28 Sept	31.2 °C	30 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
29 Sept	30.6 °C	27 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
30 Sept	29.3 °C	30 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
1 Oct	29.9 °C	29 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
2 Oct	29.9 °C	31 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
3 Oct after	30.8 °C	26 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
4 Oct after	30.7 °C	27 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
5 Oct after	30.5 °C	28 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
6 Oct after	30.5 °C	31 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
7 Oct after	30.3 °C	38 %	41 km/h	0.1 mm	Very high 38

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 12 Aug 2026

After · 9 Oct 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 20 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 34 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 24: 1.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak34 µg/m³

Days over the guideline9 days

PM1037 µg/m³

Optical depth0.63

WHO 15

17181920212223242526272829303112345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293012345

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 · 2,808Every 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 19 August 2026 to 2 October 2026 (45 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 August 2026 to 27 September 2026.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 113,063 hectares (1,130.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 4 municipalities: Chunya (49,615 ha, 2.8 %); Iringa (43,079 ha, 2.3 %); Mbarali (13,511 ha, 0.9 %); Manyoni (7,551 ha, 0.3 %).
Is the Iringa fire still active?: No fire detections since 3 Oct 2026, 23:52 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 31.3 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, class Very 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