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NG · Nigeria · –

Monguno fire, September 2026 Kukawa, Monguno, Marte

Burning · last detection 8 Nov 2026, 12:44 UTC

The fire started on 28 September 2026 in Monguno, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 42 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 41,329 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

We are reviewing this page: some of its data look inconsistent (the place, the dates or the area), so treat them with caution.

GWIS near-real-time perimeter, from the layer that changed in August 2025: this fire is not compared with fires from earlier years, because since then the GWIS layer gives more and larger perimeters.

Compare with…

Is it still active?

Satellites detected fire on 8 Nov 2026, 12:44 UTC. Everything suggests it is still burning. 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
41,329ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
42days
28 Sept 2026 – 8 Nov 2026
Municipalities hit
3
local government areas
Started on
28 Sept
2026
Heat detections
1,464
in a single hotspot: 167 MW
Danger at start
10
Low · FWI index
Average daily power
459MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 28 Sept8 Nov
8 Nov 2026

How it evolved, day by day

28 Sept 2026 · 38 MW · 4 1 Oct 2026 · 10 MW · 1 4 Oct 2026 · 400 MW · 19 5 Oct 2026 · 23 MW · 5 7 Oct 2026 · 103 MW · 9 8 Oct 2026 · 42 MW · 6 9 Oct 2026 · 402 MW · 49 10 Oct 2026 · 1,453 MW · 94 11 Oct 2026 · 479 MW · 34 12 Oct 2026 · 127 MW · 12 13 Oct 2026 · 466 MW · 72 14 Oct 2026 · 438 MW · 41 15 Oct 2026 · 253 MW · 20 16 Oct 2026 · 457 MW · 55 17 Oct 2026 · 309 MW · 43 18 Oct 2026 · 1,830 MW · 116 19 Oct 2026 · 2,085 MW · 186 20 Oct 2026 · 1,829 MW · 135 21 Oct 2026 · 1,829 MW · 100 22 Oct 2026 · 543 MW · 55 23 Oct 2026 · 139 MW · 28 24 Oct 2026 · 396 MW · 30 25 Oct 2026 · 320 MW · 30 26 Oct 2026 · 139 MW · 21 27 Oct 2026 · 148 MW · 16 28 Oct 2026 · 64 MW · 13 29 Oct 2026 · 221 MW · 19 30 Oct 2026 · 307 MW · 41 31 Oct 2026 · 279 MW · 39 1 Nov 2026 · 565 MW · 52 2 Nov 2026 · 3 MW · 2 3 Nov 2026 · 189 MW · 29 4 Nov 2026 · 153 MW · 17 5 Nov 2026 · 417 MW · 36 6 Nov 2026 · 85 MW · 10 7 Nov 2026 · 211 MW · 16 8 Nov 2026 · 244 MW · 9
28 Sept 11 Oct 19 Oct 27 Oct 4 Nov

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

The weather it burned in

42°high
52km/h · peak gust
6%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

17% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 12 ha in 2016, 3,477 ha in 2017, 988 ha in 2019, 2,045 ha in 2020, 2,540 ha in 2021, 317 ha in 2023, 1,520 ha in 2024, 434 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 7,206 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 26% of the area of London (413 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. 40,329 ha reached on 1 Oct
    8.3 %
  2. Monguno where it started
    8,369 ha reached on 28 Sept
    3.6 %
  3. 2,955 ha reached on 10 Oct
    1.4 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area12 ha
Residents≈ 7,000

Inside the perimeter there were about 12 hectares of built-up land and about 7,000 residents (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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) · forecast models, provisional until the ERA5 reanalysis arrives

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
28 Sept 34.2 °C 44 % 17 km/h 0.8 mm Low 10
29 Sept 31.1 °C 71 % 32 km/h 2.5 mm Very low 2
30 Sept 32.8 °C 52 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
1 Oct 34.6 °C 44 % 21 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 14
2 Oct 35.4 °C 41 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
3 Oct 35.5 °C 36 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
4 Oct 38.0 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
5 Oct 35.8 °C 36 % 29 km/h 0.6 mm High 31
6 Oct 38.8 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
7 Oct 39.7 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
8 Oct 40.2 °C 23 % 24 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 38
9 Oct 41.0 °C 13 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
10 Oct 40.9 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
11 Oct 41.7 °C 9 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
12 Oct 41.5 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
13 Oct 41.5 °C 8 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
14 Oct 40.8 °C 10 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 82
15 Oct 40.4 °C 10 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 90
16 Oct 39.3 °C 13 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 88
17 Oct 38.4 °C 13 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 83
18 Oct 39.9 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 75
19 Oct 39.4 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 82
20 Oct 38.5 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 83
21 Oct 38.5 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 84
22 Oct 38.0 °C 9 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 89
23 Oct 37.2 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 91
24 Oct 37.2 °C 7 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 78
25 Oct 37.7 °C 6 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 84
26 Oct 38.8 °C 8 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
27 Oct 38.9 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
28 Oct 38.3 °C 10 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 99
29 Oct 39.3 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 82
30 Oct 40.8 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 75
31 Oct 41.5 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 79
1 Nov 41.5 °C 9 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 84
2 Nov 40.1 °C 6 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 86
3 Nov 40.4 °C 7 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 91
4 Nov 41.2 °C 7 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 89
5 Nov 39.7 °C 8 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 111
6 Nov 39.2 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 96
7 Nov 39.7 °C 9 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 97
8 Nov 40.4 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 88

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 21 Sept 2026
After · 7 Nov 2026

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 6 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 99 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 69: 4.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak99 µg/m³
Days over the guideline28 days
PM10315 µg/m³
Optical depth0.88
26 Sept3 Oct10 Oct17 Oct24 Oct
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 · 1,464Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Nigeria

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Monguno fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 28 September 2026 to 8 November 2026 (42 days). The perimeter dates it from 4 October 2026 to 6 November 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 41,329 hectares (413.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Kukawa (40,329 ha, 8.3 %); Monguno (8,369 ha, 3.6 %); Marte (2,955 ha, 1.4 %).
Is the Monguno fire still active?
Yes: satellites detected fire on 8 Nov 2026, 12:44 UTC. Check the emergency service for the official status.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.7 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 111, class Very extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Nigeria (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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 7 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Name: Kukawa → Monguno.
  2. Area: 51,332 → 41,296 ha.
  3. Area: 50,102 → 51,332 ha.
  4. Area: 49,037 → 50,102 ha.
  5. Name: Monguno → Kukawa.
  6. Name: Kukawa → Monguno.
  7. Area: 47,830 → 49,037 ha.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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
What do you think is wrong?

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 4 October 2026 to 6 November 2026. 1,464 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: ECMWF IFS model, provisional until the ERA5 reanalysis arrives.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.