Menghai County fire, April 2026 China
The fire started on 5 April 2026 in Menghai County, China, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,519 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 47th largest in Yunnan Province since 2016 (of 380 with a page). Number 275 in China in 2026, of 945.
- Burnt area
- 2,519ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 14days
- 5 Apr 2026 – 18 Apr 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 0
- counties
- Started on
- 5 Apr
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 71
- in a single hotspot: 43 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 396MW
- 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 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.1 mm on 25 Apr.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Mar | 33.3 °C | 35 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 31 Mar | 33.6 °C | 38 % | 40 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 1 Apr | 32.5 °C | 44 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 2 Apr | 33.2 °C | 41 % | 45 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 3 Apr | 35.5 °C | 31 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 4 Apr | 35.6 °C | 32 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 5 Apr | 35.2 °C | 36 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 6 Apr | 35.4 °C | 36 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 7 Apr | 34.6 °C | 39 % | 39 km/h | 1.2 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 8 Apr | 34.2 °C | 41 % | 36 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 9 Apr | 31.8 °C | 46 % | 41 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 10 Apr | 31.2 °C | 43 % | 46 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 22 |
| 11 Apr | 32.4 °C | 40 % | 45 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 22 |
| 12 Apr | 35.3 °C | 25 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 13 Apr | 35.7 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 14 Apr | 36.6 °C | 25 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 15 Apr | 36.2 °C | 32 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 16 Apr | 34.4 °C | 32 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 17 Apr | 36.3 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 18 Apr | 34.2 °C | 38 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 19 Apr after | 34.8 °C | 36 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 20 Apr after | 31.4 °C | 49 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 21 Apr after | 37.4 °C | 29 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 22 Apr after | 36.3 °C | 34 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 23 Apr after | 32.7 °C | 38 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 24 Apr after | 38.8 °C | 25 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 25 Apr after | 33.3 °C | 47 % | 33 km/h | 2.1 mm | Low 11 |
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 18 April 2026 the air beside the fire reached 108 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 85: 5.7 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 · 71Every 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 Menghai County fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 5 April 2026 and 18 April 2026: 14 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 2,519 hectares (25.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.8 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of China (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: 119
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.