Mpulungu fire, 12 August 2026 Mpulungu
The fire started on 12 August 2026 in Mpulungu, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,343 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 522th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 628 with a page). Number 474 in Zambia in 2026, of 604.
- Burnt area
- 3,343ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 12 Aug 2026 – 15 Aug 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 12 Aug
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 80
- in a single hotspot: 94 MW
- Danger at start
- 45
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 526MW
- 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
68% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,297 ha in 2016, 1,102 ha in 2017, 1,108 ha in 2020, 78 ha in 2024, 899 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,264 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Mpulungu where it started3,368 ha reached on 11 Aug0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Aug | 30.3 °C | 19 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 13 Aug | 28.0 °C | 36 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 14 Aug | 26.3 °C | 39 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 15 Aug | 26.4 °C | 36 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 16 Aug after | 27.1 °C | 34 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 17 Aug after | 27.9 °C | 30 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 18 Aug after | 28.3 °C | 28 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 19 Aug after | 28.3 °C | 27 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 20 Aug after | 28.2 °C | 31 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 21 Aug after | 28.4 °C | 31 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 22 Aug after | 29.0 °C | 29 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 23 Aug after | 28.5 °C | 35 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 24 Aug after | 29.3 °C | 34 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 25 Aug after | 29.4 °C | 34 % | 44 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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 14 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 33 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 23: 1.5 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 · 80Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 8,081 haLunte3 October 2022 · 9 days · 26 km away
- 10,979 haMpulunguOctober 2022 · 15 days · 31 km away
- 32,256 haMpulunguJuly 2026 · 51 days · 33 km away
- 9,811 haMpulungu4 August 2018 · 11 days · 34 km away
- 9,161 haMpulunguSeptember 2025 · 13 days · 37 km away
- 7,282 haLunte1 October 2020 · 7 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mpulungu fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 August 2026 and 15 August 2026: 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 3,343 hectares (33.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mpulungu (3,368 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.3 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, 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.
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.