Mpika fire, 13 September 2026 Mpika, Shiwang'Andu
The fire started on 13 September 2026 in Mpika, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 10,715 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 86th largest in Muchinga since 2016 (of 513 with a page). Number 78 in Zambia in 2026, of 604.
- Burnt area
- 10,715ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 18days
- 13 Sept 2026 – 30 Sept 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 13 Sept
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 247
- in a single hotspot: 44 MW
- Danger at start
- 29
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.0GW
- 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. Rain came after the fire: 2.1 mm on 2 Oct.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,961 ha in 2016, 7,027 ha in 2017, 5,458 ha in 2018, 3,463 ha in 2019, 6,524 ha in 2020, 2,288 ha in 2021, 2,327 ha in 2022, 5,201 ha in 2023, 2,484 ha in 2024, 8,100 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 10,770 ha that had burned before.
- 5,376 ha Mpika fire, October 2017 17,050 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,366 ha Mpika fire, September 2020 18,056 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,072 ha Mpika fire, September 2025 20,880 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,746 ha Mpika fire, September 2023 8,366 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,360 ha Shiwang'Andu fire, October 2016 5,821 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,531 ha Mpika fire, September 2018 9,089 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 637 ha Mpika fire, October 2016 3,313 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 341 ha Mpika fire, September 2016 5,187 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Mpika where it started8,145 ha reached on 13 Sept0.5 %
-
2,630 ha reached on 14 Sept0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Sept | 28.3 °C | 34 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 14 Sept | 28.5 °C | 34 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 15 Sept | 28.7 °C | 34 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 16 Sept | 28.4 °C | 31 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 17 Sept | 28.1 °C | 31 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 18 Sept | 28.4 °C | 35 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 19 Sept | 28.4 °C | 38 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 20 Sept | 28.3 °C | 39 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 21 Sept | 28.8 °C | 40 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 22 Sept | 23.8 °C | 57 % | 38 km/h | 0.7 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 23 Sept | 28.3 °C | 45 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 24 Sept | 29.1 °C | 41 % | 38 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 26 |
| 25 Sept | 29.3 °C | 35 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 26 Sept | 30.3 °C | 34 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 27 Sept | 32.4 °C | 31 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 28 Sept | 32.8 °C | 27 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Sept | 31.2 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 30 Sept | 28.7 °C | 40 % | 40 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Oct after | 23.7 °C | 56 % | 38 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 24 |
| 2 Oct after | 22.5 °C | 66 % | 36 km/h | 2.1 mm | Low 8 |
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 27 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 60 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 40: 2.7 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 · 247Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 20,880 haMpika16 September 2025 · 22 days · 11 km away
- 18,056 haMpika18 September 2020 · 19 days · 12 km away
- 33,570 haShiwang'Andu31 August 2026 · 31 days · 26 km away
- 30,566 haMpika 4 October 2026 · 20 days · 34 km away
- 29,588 haMpika7 September 2020 · 21 days · 38 km away
- 31,521 haMpika3 October 2017 · 9 days · 40 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 13 September 2026 to 30 September 2026 (18 days). The perimeter dates it from 20 September 2026 to 30 September 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 10,715 hectares (107.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mpika (8,145 ha, 0.5 %); Shiwang'Andu (2,630 ha, 0.3 %).
- Is the Mpika fire still active?
- No fire detections since 1 Oct 2026, 11:45 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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.