Muanza fire, 8 October 2026 Muanza, Cheringoma
The fire started on 8 October 2026 in Muanza, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 112,173 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
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 2th largest in Sofala since 2016 (of 212 with a page). Number 8 in Mozambique in 2026, of 525.
Is it still active?
No detections since 23 Oct 2026, 11:49 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
- 112,173ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 16days
- 8 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 8 Oct
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 2,371
- in a single hotspot: 304 MW
- Danger at start
- 4
- Very low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 34.6GW
- 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
38% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 21,825 ha in 2016, 7,574 ha in 2017, 22,898 ha in 2018, 22,611 ha in 2019, 14,370 ha in 2020, 18,969 ha in 2021, 13,721 ha in 2022, 9,507 ha in 2023, 17,760 ha in 2024, 16,965 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 42,886 ha that had burned before.
- 15,897 ha Muanza fire, October 2019 117,404 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 14,321 ha Muanza fire, October 2016 20,954 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10,382 ha Muanza fire, October 2021 18,144 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 9,418 ha Muanza fire, October 2024 10,170 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,454 ha Muanza fire, October 2025 8,186 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,650 ha Muanza fire, October 2025 12,278 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,313 ha Muanza fire, October 2018 6,541 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,289 ha Muanza fire, October 2018 4,806 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Muanza where it started87,265 ha reached on 8 Oct12 %
-
25,472 ha reached on 13 Oct3.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Oct | 32.0 °C | 52 % | 37 km/h | 0.9 mm | Very low 4 |
| 9 Oct | 31.9 °C | 45 % | 31 km/h | 1.1 mm | Low 5 |
| 10 Oct | 32.1 °C | 44 % | 36 km/h | 0.1 mm | Low 9 |
| 11 Oct | 30.4 °C | 41 % | 38 km/h | 0.4 mm | Low 10 |
| 12 Oct | 30.7 °C | 37 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 13 Oct | 34.7 °C | 34 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 14 Oct | 35.1 °C | 29 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 15 Oct | 34.1 °C | 30 % | 37 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 16 Oct | 34.1 °C | 30 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 17 Oct | 34.7 °C | 28 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 18 Oct | 36.6 °C | 20 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
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 16 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 52 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 33: 2.2 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 · 2,371Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 18,144 haMuanza29 October 2021 · 18 days · 3 km away
- 20,954 haMuanza13 October 2016 · 15 days · 7 km away
- 12,278 haMuanza25 October 2025 · 9 days · 14 km away
- 117,404 haMuanza17 October 2019 · 27 days · 18 km away
- 11,433 haCheringoma13 October 2017 · 15 days · 20 km away
- 78,512 haMuanza 10 October 2026 · 14 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Muanza fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 8 October 2026 to 23 October 2026 (16 days). The perimeter dates it from 8 October 2026 to 22 October 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 112,173 hectares (1,121.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Muanza (87,265 ha, 12 %); Cheringoma (25,472 ha, 3.6 %).
- Is the Muanza fire still active?
- No fire detections since 23 Oct 2026, 11:49 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.1 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 21, class Moderate.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mozambique (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 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 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.