Mpulungu fire, September 2016 Mpulungu
The fire started on 19 September 2016 in Mpulungu, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,090 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 602th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 628 with a page). Number 236 in Zambia in 2016, of 246.
- Burnt area
- 3,090ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 19 Sept 2016 – 22 Sept 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 19 Sept
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 111
- in a single hotspot: 99 MW
- Danger at start
- 49
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.2GW
- 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
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Mpulungu where it started3,109 ha reached on 19 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Sept | 31.2 °C | 15 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 20 Sept | 29.8 °C | 16 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 21 Sept | 29.5 °C | 17 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 22 Sept | 30.6 °C | 19 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 23 Sept after | 31.5 °C | 19 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 24 Sept after | 31.7 °C | 17 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 25 Sept after | 32.0 °C | 16 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 26 Sept after | 31.5 °C | 13 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 27 Sept after | 29.6 °C | 20 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 28 Sept after | 30.6 °C | 20 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 29 Sept after | 29.6 °C | 25 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 30 Sept after | 30.1 °C | 24 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 1 Oct after | 31.0 °C | 21 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 2 Oct after | 30.3 °C | 24 % | 25 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.
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 · 111Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mpulungu fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 September 2016 and 22 September 2016: 4 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 3,090 hectares (30.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mpulungu (3,109 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 31.2 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, class Extreme.
- 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.