Kasungu fire, September 2026 Kasungu
The fire started on 25 September 2026 in Kasungu, Malawi, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,630 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 84th largest in Central Region since 2016 (of 202 with a page). Number 32 in Malawi in 2026, of 91.
The power measured by the satellite is low (20.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 1,630ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 25 Sept 2026 – 29 Sept 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 25 Sept
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 24
- in a single hotspot: 21 MW
- Danger at start
- 36
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 218MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.5 mm on 1 Oct.
This area had burned before
49% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 228 ha in 2017, 598 ha in 2018.
What happened to each town
-
Kasungu where it started1,641 ha reached on 25 Sept0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Sept | 30.9 °C | 30 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 26 Sept | 31.0 °C | 30 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 27 Sept | 32.7 °C | 30 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 28 Sept | 33.4 °C | 28 % | 42 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 41 |
| 29 Sept | 31.6 °C | 29 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 30 Sept after | 27.7 °C | 40 % | 47 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 39 |
| 1 Oct after | 25.2 °C | 51 % | 43 km/h | 1.5 mm | Moderate 18 |
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 30 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 45 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 · 24Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 1,970 haKasunguAugust 2018 · 1 day · 3 km away
- 2,783 haKasungu24 September 2018 · 6 days · 5 km away
- 4,646 haKasungu26 September 2018 · 9 days · 10 km away
- 8,236 haKasungu30 September 2020 · 9 days · 18 km away
- 2,193 haKasungu5 October 2020 · 3 days · 19 km away
- 3,493 haKasungu11 October 2022 · 4 days · 20 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kasungu fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 September 2026 and 29 September 2026: 5 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 1,630 hectares (16.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Kasungu (1,641 ha, 0.2 %).
- Is the Kasungu fire still active?
- No fire detections since 29 Sept 2026, 12:21 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.4 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, 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.