How long did the Mpulungu fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 July 2026 to 10 September 2026 (51 days). The perimeter dates it from 28 July 2026 to 3 September 2026.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 32,256 hectares (322.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire only entered Mpulungu (32,460 ha, 3.2 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 32.7 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 52 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.

ZM · Zambia · 2026-07-22 → 2026-09-10

Mpulungu fire, July 2026 Mpulungu

Out · last detection 10 Sept 2026, 11:38 UTC

The fire started on 22 July 2026 in Mpulungu, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 51 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 32,256 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

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.

It is the 13th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 628 with a page). Number 19 in Zambia in 2026, of 604.

Burnt area: 32,256ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 51days; 22 Jul 2026 – 10 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit: 1; districts
Started on: 22 Jul; 2026
Heat detections: 900; in a single hotspot: 134 MW
Danger at start: 33; High · FWI index
Energy released: 9.4GW; sum of detected power

Play back 10 Sept 2026

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Jul10 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

22232526272829303112567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303112345678910

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

The weather it burned in

33°high

52km/h · peak gust

16%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

84% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8,201 ha in 2016, 7,138 ha in 2017, 6,674 ha in 2018, 8,878 ha in 2019, 7,142 ha in 2020, 4,998 ha in 2021, 1,755 ha in 2022, 4,254 ha in 2023, 6,606 ha in 2024, 9,755 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 26,998 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

Mpulungu where it started

32,460 ha reached on 22 Jul

3.2 %

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)
22 Jul	29.2 °C	35 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
23 Jul	29.0 °C	35 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
24 Jul	28.7 °C	33 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
25 Jul	27.7 °C	30 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
26 Jul	27.8 °C	34 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
27 Jul	27.1 °C	36 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
28 Jul	28.3 °C	33 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
29 Jul	28.6 °C	31 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
30 Jul	28.5 °C	32 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
31 Jul	27.9 °C	27 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
1 Aug	26.5 °C	29 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
2 Aug	27.6 °C	32 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
3 Aug	27.3 °C	35 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
4 Aug	26.8 °C	40 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
5 Aug	27.5 °C	39 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
6 Aug	28.5 °C	36 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
7 Aug	29.3 °C	36 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
8 Aug	29.0 °C	36 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
9 Aug	29.0 °C	30 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
10 Aug	30.8 °C	24 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
11 Aug	30.9 °C	24 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
12 Aug	30.6 °C	16 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
13 Aug	28.4 °C	32 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
14 Aug	26.5 °C	38 %	52 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
15 Aug	26.6 °C	35 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
16 Aug	27.4 °C	33 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
17 Aug	28.2 °C	29 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
18 Aug	28.5 °C	27 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
19 Aug	28.6 °C	26 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
20 Aug	28.3 °C	29 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
21 Aug	28.5 °C	29 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
22 Aug	28.8 °C	28 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
23 Aug	28.8 °C	33 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
24 Aug	29.5 °C	32 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
25 Aug	29.5 °C	33 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
26 Aug	30.7 °C	30 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
27 Aug	30.3 °C	32 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
28 Aug	29.6 °C	31 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
29 Aug	29.4 °C	31 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
30 Aug	29.9 °C	27 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
31 Aug	30.7 °C	28 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
1 Sept	30.5 °C	27 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
2 Sept	31.4 °C	27 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
3 Sept	32.0 °C	22 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
4 Sept	31.7 °C	25 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
5 Sept	32.7 °C	26 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
6 Sept	31.4 °C	30 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
7 Sept	31.5 °C	27 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
8 Sept	29.1 °C	33 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
9 Sept	28.6 °C	32 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
10 Sept	29.2 °C	31 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
11 Sept after	30.3 °C	28 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
12 Sept after	30.3 °C	29 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
13 Sept after	31.2 °C	27 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
14 Sept after	31.4 °C	29 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
15 Sept after	30.5 °C	33 %	32 km/h	0.1 mm	High 36
16 Sept after	30.7 °C	27 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
17 Sept after	29.9 °C	25 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
18 Sept after	32.0 °C	27 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
19 Sept after	31.5 °C	27 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
20 Sept after	32.6 °C	22 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 15 Jul 2026

After · 17 Sept 2026

Before After

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 · Copernicus

On 5 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 208 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 117: 7.8 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak208 µg/m³

Days over the guideline45 days

PM10211 µg/m³

Optical depth1.13

WHO 15

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Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 900Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Zambia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Mpulungu fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 July 2026 to 10 September 2026 (51 days). The perimeter dates it from 28 July 2026 to 3 September 2026.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 32,256 hectares (322.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire only entered Mpulungu (32,460 ha, 3.2 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 32.7 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 52 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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.

Where it burned