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Milengi fire, 17 July 2026 Milengi, Mansa, Chembe

Out · last detection 9 Sept 2026, 11:57 UTC

The fire started on 17 July 2026 in Milengi, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 54 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 167,326 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 9th largest in Luapula since 2016 (of 534 with a page). Number 6 in Zambia in 2026, of 616.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Milengi · 2021Milengi · 2019Milengi · 2017Milengi · 2018

Burnt area
167,326ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
54days
17 Jul 2026 – 8 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit
4
districts
Started on
17 Jul
2026
Heat detections
6,127
in a single hotspot: 167 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Average daily power
1.1GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Jul8 Sept
9 Sept 2026

How it evolved, day by day

17 Jul 2026 · 245 MW · 34 18 Jul 2026 · 181 MW · 22 19 Jul 2026 · 185 MW · 17 20 Jul 2026 · 37 MW · 9 21 Jul 2026 · 533 MW · 25 22 Jul 2026 · 51 MW · 7 23 Jul 2026 · 256 MW · 29 24 Jul 2026 · 267 MW · 28 25 Jul 2026 · 442 MW · 42 26 Jul 2026 · 414 MW · 40 27 Jul 2026 · 218 MW · 38 28 Jul 2026 · 452 MW · 49 29 Jul 2026 · 805 MW · 87 30 Jul 2026 · 549 MW · 54 31 Jul 2026 · 996 MW · 92 1 Aug 2026 · 2,520 MW · 241 2 Aug 2026 · 992 MW · 128 5 Aug 2026 · 414 MW · 51 6 Aug 2026 · 1,062 MW · 99 7 Aug 2026 · 704 MW · 94 8 Aug 2026 · 728 MW · 93 9 Aug 2026 · 1,130 MW · 122 10 Aug 2026 · 2,512 MW · 166 11 Aug 2026 · 3,288 MW · 251 12 Aug 2026 · 2,096 MW · 339 13 Aug 2026 · 2,935 MW · 301 14 Aug 2026 · 5,083 MW · 468 15 Aug 2026 · 4,716 MW · 547 16 Aug 2026 · 3,365 MW · 397 17 Aug 2026 · 2,010 MW · 232 18 Aug 2026 · 21 MW · 20 19 Aug 2026 · 3,402 MW · 395 20 Aug 2026 · 2,300 MW · 175 21 Aug 2026 · 2,070 MW · 236 22 Aug 2026 · 1,996 MW · 172 23 Aug 2026 · 891 MW · 87 24 Aug 2026 · 1,151 MW · 169 25 Aug 2026 · 864 MW · 115 26 Aug 2026 · 606 MW · 67 27 Aug 2026 · 142 MW · 31 28 Aug 2026 · 534 MW · 90 29 Aug 2026 · 143 MW · 25 30 Aug 2026 · 695 MW · 71 31 Aug 2026 · 627 MW · 84 1 Sept 2026 · 527 MW · 92 2 Sept 2026 · 250 MW · 46 3 Sept 2026 · 233 MW · 51 4 Sept 2026 · 359 MW · 67 6 Sept 2026 · 8 MW · 3 7 Sept 2026 · 71 MW · 11 8 Sept 2026 · 121 MW · 13 9 Sept 2026 · 18 MW · 5
17 Jul 25 Jul 2 Aug 12 Aug 14 Aug 20 Aug 28 Aug 6 Sept

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
51km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

94% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 67,765 ha in 2016, 72,085 ha in 2017, 73,628 ha in 2018, 68,876 ha in 2019, 78,357 ha in 2020, 77,320 ha in 2021, 56,425 ha in 2022, 49,559 ha in 2023, 59,760 ha in 2024, 69,359 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 158,065 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned almost the same area as London (1,673 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. Milengi where it started
    84,466 ha reached on 17 Jul
    14 %
  2. Mansa
    71,514 ha reached on 18 Jul
    9.3 %
  3. Chembe
    11,392 ha reached on 17 Jul
    5.2 %
  4. Samfya
    985 ha reached on 14 Aug
    0.3 %

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 area196 ha
Residents≈ 19,000

Inside the perimeter there were about 196 hectares of built-up land and about 19,000 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) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
17 Jul 25.1 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Jul 25.1 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Jul 26.2 °C 26 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
20 Jul 27.5 °C 27 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
21 Jul 28.4 °C 28 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
22 Jul 27.9 °C 35 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
23 Jul 27.7 °C 40 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
24 Jul 27.4 °C 35 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Jul 26.8 °C 34 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
26 Jul 25.4 °C 40 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Jul 25.4 °C 39 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
28 Jul 26.7 °C 32 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
29 Jul 27.3 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
30 Jul 27.4 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
31 Jul 26.9 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
1 Aug 25.1 °C 28 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
2 Aug 24.5 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
3 Aug 25.1 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
4 Aug 26.1 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
5 Aug 26.3 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
6 Aug 27.0 °C 37 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Aug 27.6 °C 40 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
8 Aug 27.2 °C 40 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
9 Aug 27.7 °C 40 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
10 Aug 29.7 °C 33 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Aug 29.7 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
12 Aug 29.4 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
13 Aug 26.9 °C 39 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
14 Aug 25.7 °C 38 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
15 Aug 25.2 °C 36 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
16 Aug 25.2 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
17 Aug 26.3 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
18 Aug 27.4 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
19 Aug 27.0 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
20 Aug 27.0 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
21 Aug 27.7 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
22 Aug 28.7 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
23 Aug 29.0 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
24 Aug 30.3 °C 32 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Aug 29.5 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
26 Aug 30.1 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Aug 29.0 °C 40 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Aug 27.6 °C 39 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Aug 28.4 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
30 Aug 30.0 °C 29 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Aug 30.5 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
1 Sept 30.5 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
2 Sept 30.0 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
3 Sept 30.1 °C 34 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
4 Sept 31.1 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
5 Sept 29.3 °C 37 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
6 Sept 29.9 °C 40 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Sept 30.1 °C 38 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
8 Sept 28.5 °C 34 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
9 Sept after 27.3 °C 38 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
10 Sept after 28.4 °C 37 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
11 Sept after 30.6 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Sept after 31.9 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
13 Sept after 31.9 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
14 Sept after 31.7 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
15 Sept after 31.8 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Sept after 31.6 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
17 Sept after 30.3 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Sept after 30.6 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 10 Jul 2026
After · 15 Sept 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 16 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 127 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 53: 3.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak127 µg/m³
Days over the guideline51 days
PM10130 µg/m³
Optical depth1.89
1516171819202122232425262728293031123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930311234567891011
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 · 6,127Every 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 Zambia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Milengi fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 July 2026 to 8 September 2026 (54 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 July 2026 to 2 September 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 167,326 hectares (1,673.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 4 municipalities: Milengi (84,466 ha, 14 %); Mansa (71,514 ha, 9.3 %); Chembe (11,392 ha, 5.2 %); Samfya (985 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.1 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zambia (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

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 13 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 24 July 2026 to 2 September 2026. 6,127 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • 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 (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.