How long did the Mpungu fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 21 August 2026 to 26 September 2026 (37 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 August 2026 to 21 September 2026.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 9,223 hectares (92.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mpungu (4,825 ha, 0.6 %); Kahenge (4,427 ha, 0.5 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 4 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 70, class Very extreme.

Where does this data come from?

From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Namibia (OCHA COD-AB). It is not an official report.

NA · Namibia · 2026-08-21 → 2026-09-26

Mpungu fire, 21 August 2026 Mpungu, Kahenge

Out · last detection 26 Sept 2026, 13:18 UTC

The fire started on 21 August 2026 in Mpungu, Namibia, and satellites saw it burning for 37 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,223 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 10th largest in Kavango West since 2016 (of 152 with a page). Number 25 in Namibia in 2026, of 156.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Mpungu · 2018 Mpungu · 2023 Mpungu · 2023 Cuangar · 2026

Burnt area: 9,223ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 37days; 21 Aug 2026 – 26 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit: 2; constituencies
Started on: 21 Aug; 2026
Heat detections: 300; in a single hotspot: 73 MW
Danger at start: 58; Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power: 122MW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Aug26 Sept

Play back 26 Sept 2026

How it evolved, day by day

21 Aug 25 Aug 27 Aug 1 Sept 6 Sept 12 Sept 16 Sept 21 Sept

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

The weather it burned in

37°high

55km/h · peak gust

4%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

37% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 592 ha in 2016, 2,699 ha in 2018, 1,978 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,458 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 5.8% of the area of London (92 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

Mpungu where it started

4,825 ha reached on 21 Aug

0.6 %
Kahenge

4,427 ha reached on 21 Aug

0.5 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025

Built-up area0.21 ha

Residents≈ 30

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.21 hectares of built-up land and about 30 residents (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
21 Aug	31.4 °C	16 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
22 Aug	31.2 °C	14 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
23 Aug	32.3 °C	16 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62
24 Aug	32.8 °C	13 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
25 Aug	32.1 °C	15 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
26 Aug	32.6 °C	12 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
27 Aug	32.5 °C	13 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
28 Aug	30.8 °C	14 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62
29 Aug	30.4 °C	14 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
30 Aug	32.4 °C	12 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
31 Aug	33.9 °C	16 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
1 Sept	34.4 °C	15 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
2 Sept	33.7 °C	16 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 53
3 Sept	34.4 °C	14 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
4 Sept	31.7 °C	10 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
5 Sept	29.8 °C	13 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 53
6 Sept	32.6 °C	10 %	24 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
7 Sept	35.3 °C	4 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
8 Sept	34.0 °C	21 %	50 km/h	0.1 mm	Extreme 59
9 Sept	31.2 °C	24 %	51 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 58
10 Sept	31.0 °C	20 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
11 Sept	32.2 °C	15 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 50
12 Sept	34.0 °C	13 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
13 Sept	35.4 °C	16 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 52
14 Sept	33.2 °C	21 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
15 Sept	35.0 °C	13 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 49
16 Sept	36.6 °C	18 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
17 Sept	36.5 °C	12 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
18 Sept	35.0 °C	17 %	55 km/h	0.0 mm	Very extreme 70
19 Sept	29.0 °C	24 %	35 km/h	0.1 mm	Very high 48
20 Sept	30.9 °C	21 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
21 Sept	31.0 °C	26 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
22 Sept	33.2 °C	19 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
23 Sept	33.8 °C	20 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
24 Sept	36.3 °C	15 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 62
25 Sept	36.5 °C	11 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 63
26 Sept	36.9 °C	12 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 50
27 Sept after	37.2 °C	10 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
28 Sept after	37.8 °C	11 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
29 Sept after	37.1 °C	18 %	32 km/h	0.1 mm	Extreme 55
30 Sept after	34.6 °C	23 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
1 Oct after	30.6 °C	38 %	44 km/h	0.2 mm	Very high 43
2 Oct after	29.7 °C	30 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
3 Oct after	30.8 °C	21 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
4 Oct after	34.2 °C	16 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
5 Oct after	34.8 °C	16 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 49
6 Oct after	35.4 °C	12 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 14 Aug 2026

After · 3 Oct 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 8 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 68 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 42: 2.8 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak68 µg/m³

Days over the guideline28 days

PM1069 µg/m³

Optical depth0.99

WHO 15

2324252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829

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 · 300Every 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 Namibia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Mpungu fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 21 August 2026 to 26 September 2026 (37 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 August 2026 to 21 September 2026.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 9,223 hectares (92.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mpungu (4,825 ha, 0.6 %); Kahenge (4,427 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 4 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 70, class Very extreme.
Where does this data come from?: From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Namibia (OCHA COD-AB). 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 ↗

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

25 October 2026 Start date: 25 August 2026 → 21 August 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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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What do you think is wrong?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

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How we know this

Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 25 August 2026 to 21 September 2026. 300 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
We have not matched this page with any official record.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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 OCHA COD-AB (Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA)) (Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-IGO)). 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