Mpungu fire, 15 October 2026 Mpungu
The fire started on 15 October 2026 in Mpungu, Namibia, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,084 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 29th largest in Kavango West since 2016 (of 152 with a page). Number 48 in Namibia in 2026, of 153.
Is it still active?
No detections since 23 Oct 2026, 13:12 UTC. That usually means no flame is visible from space any more, although hotspots may remain. Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
- Burnt area
- 5,084ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 9days
- 15 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- constituencies
- Started on
- 15 Oct
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 102
- in a single hotspot: 37 MW
- Danger at start
- 44
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.4GW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
48% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,170 ha in 2017, 1,287 ha in 2018, 673 ha in 2022, 271 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,464 ha that had burned before.
- 1,254 ha Mpungu fire, August 2018 13,507 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 673 ha Mpungu fire, September 2022 2,764 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 271 ha Mpungu fire, September 2025 2,068 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 33 ha Mpungu fire, October 2018 10,404 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Mpungu where it started5,100 ha reached on 15 Oct0.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Oct | 35.2 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 16 Oct | 35.6 °C | 18 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 17 Oct | 35.3 °C | 16 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 18 Oct | 35.6 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
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 13 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 25 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 20: 1.3 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 · 102Every 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 Mpungu fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 October 2026 to 23 October 2026 (9 days). The perimeter dates it from 15 October 2026 to 22 October 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,084 hectares (50.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mpungu (5,100 ha, 0.6 %).
- Is the Mpungu fire still active?
- No fire detections since 23 Oct 2026, 13:12 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.6 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 56, class 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
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 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.