Mpika fire, 18 August 2026 Mpika
The fire started on 18 August 2026 in Mpika, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 8,756 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 109th largest in Muchinga since 2016 (of 513 with a page). Number 101 in Zambia in 2026, of 604.
- Burnt area
- 8,756ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 18 Aug 2026 – 28 Aug 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 18 Aug
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 130
- in a single hotspot: 126 MW
- Danger at start
- 28
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.7GW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
80% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,999 ha in 2016, 3,423 ha in 2017, 378 ha in 2018, 4,803 ha in 2019, 3,055 ha in 2020, 995 ha in 2021, 1,424 ha in 2022, 1,124 ha in 2023, 1,726 ha in 2024, 2,258 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 7,008 ha that had burned before.
- 4,803 ha Mpika fire, September 2019 10,517 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,755 ha Mpika fire, August 2017 6,916 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,539 ha Mpika fire, August 2020 3,427 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,761 ha Mpika fire, September 2025 3,000 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 497 ha Mpika fire, September 2025 3,670 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Mpika where it started8,821 ha reached on 18 Aug0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Aug | 27.9 °C | 29 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 19 Aug | 27.6 °C | 34 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 20 Aug | 28.0 °C | 34 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 21 Aug | 29.7 °C | 32 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 22 Aug | 30.2 °C | 36 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 23 Aug | 30.2 °C | 42 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 24 Aug | 32.4 °C | 29 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 25 Aug | 30.4 °C | 38 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 26 Aug | 30.7 °C | 40 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 27 Aug | 30.1 °C | 39 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 28 Aug | 29.0 °C | 38 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Aug after | 30.0 °C | 36 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 30 Aug after | 30.9 °C | 32 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 31 Aug after | 31.7 °C | 32 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 1 Sept after | 31.9 °C | 31 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 2 Sept after | 31.1 °C | 34 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 3 Sept after | 31.8 °C | 32 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 4 Sept after | 32.9 °C | 30 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 5 Sept after | 32.9 °C | 37 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 6 Sept after | 31.7 °C | 39 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 7 Sept after | 31.8 °C | 35 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
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 22 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 77 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 45: 3.0 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 · 130Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 10,517 haMpika12 September 2019 · 4 days · 5 km away
- 6,916 haMpika30 August 2017 · 4 days · 6 km away
- 10,191 haMpika3 October 2022 · 12 days · 24 km away
- 12,614 haMpika1 September 2025 · 20 days · 29 km away
- 16,419 haMpika10 September 2017 · 11 days · 32 km away
- 13,662 haMpika19 September 2016 · 14 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mpika fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 18 August 2026 to 28 August 2026 (11 days). The perimeter dates it from 20 August 2026 to 26 August 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 8,756 hectares (87.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mpika (8,821 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.4 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, class 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.
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 (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.