Milengi fire, 3 August 2026 Milengi, Samfya, Mansa
The fire started on 3 August 2026 in Milengi, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 169,563 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 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 8th largest in Luapula since 2016 (of 533 with a page). Number 5 in Zambia in 2026, of 610.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 169,563ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 20days
- 3 Aug 2026 – 22 Aug 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- districts
- Started on
- 3 Aug
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 3,432
- in a single hotspot: 214 MW
- Danger at start
- 29
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 1.7GW
- detected power per day, on average
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
89% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 60,782 ha in 2016, 48,101 ha in 2017, 66,814 ha in 2018, 38,441 ha in 2019, 23,920 ha in 2020, 45,475 ha in 2021, 38,392 ha in 2022, 58,282 ha in 2023, 76,185 ha in 2024, 42,881 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 150,138 ha that had burned before.
- 21,935 ha Milengi fire, July 2024 30,020 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 18,620 ha Samfya fire, August 2018 21,038 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 12,013 ha Milengi fire, August 2023 15,153 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10,636 ha Milengi fire, August 2017 14,856 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10,361 ha Samfya fire, August 2016 11,697 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 8,596 ha Samfya fire, August 2017 9,864 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 8,154 ha Milengi fire, August 2024 10,859 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,381 ha Samfya fire, August 2024 8,559 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Milengi where it started89,880 ha reached on 28 Jul15 %
-
80,594 ha reached on 5 Aug24 %
-
70 ha reached on 5 Aug0.0 %
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 2025Inside the perimeter there were about 312 hectares of built-up land and about 17,000 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jul | 26.5 °C | 32 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 29 Jul | 27.1 °C | 32 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 30 Jul | 27.2 °C | 29 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 31 Jul | 26.7 °C | 25 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Aug | 24.8 °C | 28 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 2 Aug | 24.2 °C | 31 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 3 Aug | 24.8 °C | 35 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 4 Aug | 25.8 °C | 34 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 5 Aug | 26.1 °C | 33 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 6 Aug | 26.7 °C | 37 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 7 Aug | 27.4 °C | 39 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 8 Aug | 27.0 °C | 40 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 9 Aug | 27.5 °C | 39 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 10 Aug | 29.5 °C | 33 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 11 Aug | 29.4 °C | 32 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 12 Aug | 29.1 °C | 30 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 13 Aug | 26.7 °C | 39 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 14 Aug | 25.4 °C | 38 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 15 Aug | 25.0 °C | 36 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 16 Aug | 25.0 °C | 33 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 17 Aug | 26.0 °C | 27 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 18 Aug | 27.1 °C | 23 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 19 Aug | 26.7 °C | 27 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 20 Aug | 26.7 °C | 29 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 21 Aug | 27.5 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 22 Aug | 28.4 °C | 30 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 23 Aug after | 28.7 °C | 31 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 24 Aug after | 30.1 °C | 31 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 25 Aug after | 29.3 °C | 35 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 26 Aug after | 29.9 °C | 38 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 27 Aug after | 28.7 °C | 40 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 28 Aug after | 27.4 °C | 39 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 29 Aug after | 28.1 °C | 37 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 30 Aug after | 29.7 °C | 29 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 31 Aug after | 30.3 °C | 29 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Sept after | 30.3 °C | 30 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 2 Sept after | 29.8 °C | 33 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 3 Sept after | 29.8 °C | 34 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 4 Sept after | 30.8 °C | 32 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 5 Sept after | 29.1 °C | 37 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 6 Sept after | 29.6 °C | 40 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 7 Sept after | 29.8 °C | 38 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 8 Sept after | 28.2 °C | 34 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
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 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).
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 · 3,432Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 30,020 haMilengi26 July 2024 · 23 days · 9 km away
- 167,326 haMilengi17 July 2026 · 54 days · 17 km away
- 25,575 haMilengi29 August 2020 · 11 days · 24 km away
- 41,279 haMilengi13 August 2021 · 25 days · 28 km away
- 29,893 haMilengi17 August 2019 · 24 days · 35 km away
- 21,038 haSamfya19 August 2018 · 10 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Milengi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 August 2026 and 22 August 2026: 20 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 169,563 hectares (1,695.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Milengi (89,880 ha, 15 %); Samfya (80,594 ha, 24 %); Mansa (70 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.1 °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.
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 3 polygons grouped in this page.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 3,432 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.
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.