Maji fire, July 2026 Maji
The fire started on 31 July 2026 in Maji, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,199 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 151th largest in SNNPR since 2016 (of 186 with a page). Number 151 in Ethiopia in 2026, of 190.
- Burnt area
- 2,199ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 1day
- 31 Jul 2026 – 31 Jul 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 31 Jul
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 22
- in a single hotspot: 66 MW
- Danger at start
- 47
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 358MW
- 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.
This area had burned before
38% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 832 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Maji where it started2,213 ha reached on 31 Jul0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Jul | 36.0 °C | 25 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 1 Aug after | 36.0 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 2 Aug after | 34.1 °C | 33 % | 27 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 42 |
| 3 Aug after | 38.8 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 4 Aug after | 37.2 °C | 26 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 5 Aug after | 35.9 °C | 24 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 6 Aug after | 34.9 °C | 25 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 7 Aug after | 37.6 °C | 27 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 8 Aug after | 38.2 °C | 22 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 9 Aug after | 36.6 °C | 23 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 10 Aug after | 37.0 °C | 21 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
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 2 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 45 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 33: 2.2 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 · 22Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Maji fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 31 July 2026 and 31 July 2026: 1 day 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 2,199 hectares (22.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Maji (2,213 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.0 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 47, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ethiopia (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 ADM3 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.