Karonga fire, 13 October 2026 Karonga
The fire started on 13 October 2026 in Karonga, Malawi, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,291 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 39th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 418 with a page). Number 8 in Malawi in 2026, of 91.
The power measured by the satellite is low (13.1 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Is it still active?
No detections since 23 Oct 2026, 11:32 UTC. That usually means no flame is visible from space any more, although hotspots may remain. Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
- Burnt area
- 4,291ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 13 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 13 Oct
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 37
- in a single hotspot: 13 MW
- Danger at start
- 37
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 199MW
- 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 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
71% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,333 ha in 2017, 404 ha in 2018, 183 ha in 2019, 906 ha in 2021, 767 ha in 2022, 1,408 ha in 2023, 770 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,035 ha that had burned before.
- 1,320 ha Karonga fire, October 2023 2,128 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,246 ha Karonga fire, October 2017 3,935 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 906 ha Karonga fire, October 2021 1,069 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 767 ha Karonga fire, October 2022 1,131 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 496 ha Karonga fire, October 2025 1,068 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 404 ha Karonga fire, October 2018 1,107 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 274 ha Karonga fire, October 2025 6,676 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 183 ha Karonga fire, October 2019 2,176 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Karonga where it started4,316 ha reached on 14 Oct1.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Oct | 32.2 °C | 30 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 14 Oct | 31.6 °C | 31 % | 42 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 30 |
| 15 Oct | 31.4 °C | 28 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 16 Oct | 31.3 °C | 24 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 17 Oct | 31.6 °C | 28 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 18 Oct | 31.4 °C | 36 % | 38 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 31 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 11 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 27 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 22: 1.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 37Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 6,676 haKaronga14 October 2025 · 21 days · 8 km away
- 10,386 haChitipa25 October 2025 · 18 days · 15 km away
- 8,073 haKaronga23 October 2025 · 19 days · 23 km away
- 5,640 haChitipa1 November 2025 · 12 days · 30 km away
- 10,369 haChitipa 13 October 2026 · 11 days · 36 km away
- 22,043 haChitipa26 October 2025 · 14 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Karonga fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 13 October 2026 to 23 October 2026 (11 days). The perimeter dates it from 14 October 2026 to 17 October 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,291 hectares (42.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Karonga (4,316 ha, 1.3 %).
- Is the Karonga fire still active?
- No fire detections since 23 Oct 2026, 11:32 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.2 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very 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.