Marte fire, October 2026 Marte, Monguno
The fire started on 20 October 2026 in Marte, Nigeria, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,171 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 376th largest in Borno since 2016 (of 457 with a page). Number 222 in Nigeria in 2026, of 258.
The power measured by the satellite is low (25.6 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
- 2,171ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 20 Oct 2026 – 21 Oct 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- local government areas
- Started on
- 20 Oct
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 23
- in a single hotspot: 26 MW
- Danger at start
- 46
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 108MW
- 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 14 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
82% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 781 ha in 2016, 767 ha in 2017, 392 ha in 2018, 151 ha in 2020, 477 ha in 2021, 96 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,770 ha that had burned before.
- 781 ha Marte fire, November 2016 4,557 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 767 ha Marte fire, October 2017 13,232 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 151 ha Marte fire, October 2020 2,087 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 96 ha Marte fire, October 2024 2,335 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Marte where it started2,100 ha reached on 20 Oct1.0 %
-
85 ha reached on 20 Oct0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct | 37.5 °C | 13 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 21 Oct | 36.7 °C | 16 % | 31 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 20 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 37 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 25: 1.6 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 · 23Every 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 Marte fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 October 2026 to 21 October 2026 (2 days). The perimeter dates it from 20 October 2026 to 20 October 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,171 hectares (21.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Marte (2,100 ha, 1.0 %); Monguno (85 ha, 0.0 %).
- Is the Marte fire still active?
- No fire detections since 21 Oct 2026, 12:38 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.5 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 31 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 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
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 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.