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Mpika fire, 21 September 2016 Mpika, Shiwang'Andu

Out · last detection 29 Sept 2016, 11:45 UTC

The fire started on 21 September 2016 in Mpika, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,111 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 486th largest in Muchinga since 2016 (of 513 with a page). Number 233 in Zambia in 2016, of 246.

Burnt area
3,111ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
21 Sept 2016 – 29 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
21 Sept
2016
Heat detections
83
in a single hotspot: 79 MW
Danger at start
42
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
1.2GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

29 Sept 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Sept29 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

2122242526272829

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

The weather it burned in

30°high
46km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 41 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Mpika where it started
    3,060 ha reached on 21 Sept
    0.2 %
  2. Shiwang'Andu
    63 ha reached on 28 Sept
    0.0 %

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)
21 Sept 28.0 °C 24 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Sept 28.3 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
23 Sept 29.5 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
24 Sept 29.9 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
25 Sept 29.8 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
26 Sept 29.7 °C 21 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Sept 30.5 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Sept 29.7 °C 24 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
29 Sept 30.5 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
30 Sept after 30.1 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Oct after 30.3 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
2 Oct after 31.6 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
3 Oct after 31.4 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 Oct after 26.5 °C 43 % 37 km/h 0.5 mm High 31
5 Oct after 29.3 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
6 Oct after 30.8 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
7 Oct after 32.4 °C 22 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
8 Oct after 32.1 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
9 Oct after 33.3 °C 16 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 14 Sept 2016
After · 6 Oct 2016

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 83Every 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 Mpika fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 September 2016 and 29 September 2016: 9 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 3,111 hectares (31.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mpika (3,060 ha, 0.2 %); Shiwang'Andu (63 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 30.5 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 46 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 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

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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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.