Mpulungu fire, October 2026 Mpulungu
The fire started on 1 October 2026 in Mpulungu, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,940 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 249th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 628 with a page). Number 228 in Zambia in 2026, of 610.
- Burnt area
- 4,940ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 15days
- 1 Oct 2026 – 15 Oct 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 1 Oct
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 145
- in a single hotspot: 70 MW
- Danger at start
- 38
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.8GW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 16 Oct.
This area had burned before
77% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 916 ha in 2017, 202 ha in 2019, 1,975 ha in 2020, 529 ha in 2021, 829 ha in 2022, 1,243 ha in 2023, 1,212 ha in 2024, 2,707 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,792 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Mpulungu where it started4,969 ha reached on 1 Oct0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Oct | 30.0 °C | 24 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 2 Oct | 28.9 °C | 33 % | 39 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 27 |
| 3 Oct | 29.6 °C | 32 % | 36 km/h | 2.3 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 4 Oct | 30.1 °C | 31 % | 36 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 26 |
| 5 Oct | 30.5 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 6 Oct | 32.2 °C | 21 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 7 Oct | 30.3 °C | 31 % | 34 km/h | 1.6 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 8 Oct | 31.0 °C | 30 % | 28 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 25 |
| 9 Oct | 31.7 °C | 22 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 10 Oct | 31.8 °C | 21 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 11 Oct | 31.9 °C | 22 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 12 Oct | 31.7 °C | 24 % | 33 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 36 |
| 13 Oct | 30.7 °C | 29 % | 35 km/h | 1.1 mm | High 25 |
| 14 Oct | 31.1 °C | 29 % | 25 km/h | 1.0 mm | High 24 |
| 15 Oct | 32.1 °C | 27 % | 27 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 30 |
| 16 Oct after | 29.9 °C | 29 % | 25 km/h | 1.4 mm | Moderate 20 |
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 10 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 51 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 30: 2.0 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 · 145Every 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?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 1 October 2026 to 15 October 2026 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 8 October 2026 to 15 October 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,940 hectares (49.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mpulungu (4,969 ha, 0.5 %).
- Is the Mpulungu fire still active?
- No fire detections since 15 Oct 2026, 23:29 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.2 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, 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.