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Nkhata Bay fire, 17 September 2016 Nkhata Bay, Mzimba

Out · last detection 26 Nov 2016, 23:04 UTC

The fire started on 17 September 2016 in Nkhata Bay, Malawi, and satellites saw it burning for 71 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 69,845 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.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 3th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 428 with a page). The largest in Malawi in 2016, of 78.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Nkhata Bay · 2022Nkhata Bay · 2026Nkhata Bay · 2023Nkhata Bay · 2024

Burnt area
69,845ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
71days
17 Sept 2016 – 26 Nov 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
17 Sept
2016
Heat detections
5,812
in a single hotspot: 633 MW
Danger at start
25
High · FWI index
Average daily power
1.4GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Sept26 Nov
26 Nov 2016

How it evolved, day by day

17 Sept 2016 · 10 MW · 1 18 Sept 2016 · 252 MW · 34 19 Sept 2016 · 300 MW · 35 20 Sept 2016 · 16 MW · 5 21 Sept 2016 · 1 MW · 1 22 Sept 2016 · 57 MW · 10 23 Sept 2016 · 72 MW · 14 24 Sept 2016 · 166 MW · 32 25 Sept 2016 · 280 MW · 41 26 Sept 2016 · 478 MW · 34 27 Sept 2016 · 341 MW · 29 28 Sept 2016 · 54 MW · 24 29 Sept 2016 · 157 MW · 31 30 Sept 2016 · 258 MW · 36 1 Oct 2016 · 427 MW · 30 2 Oct 2016 · 514 MW · 32 3 Oct 2016 · 1,263 MW · 76 5 Oct 2016 · 22 MW · 2 6 Oct 2016 · 67 MW · 9 7 Oct 2016 · 735 MW · 69 8 Oct 2016 · 522 MW · 67 9 Oct 2016 · 724 MW · 91 10 Oct 2016 · 401 MW · 47 11 Oct 2016 · 387 MW · 33 12 Oct 2016 · 1,190 MW · 79 13 Oct 2016 · 470 MW · 56 14 Oct 2016 · 2,054 MW · 113 15 Oct 2016 · 2,783 MW · 181 16 Oct 2016 · 2,587 MW · 183 17 Oct 2016 · 4,475 MW · 257 18 Oct 2016 · 3,111 MW · 132 19 Oct 2016 · 3,274 MW · 180 20 Oct 2016 · 4,143 MW · 358 21 Oct 2016 · 5,989 MW · 305 22 Oct 2016 · 5,167 MW · 433 23 Oct 2016 · 4,768 MW · 295 24 Oct 2016 · 7,427 MW · 212 25 Oct 2016 · 1,026 MW · 134 26 Oct 2016 · 2,146 MW · 136 27 Oct 2016 · 10,949 MW · 431 28 Oct 2016 · 4,375 MW · 218 29 Oct 2016 · 1,910 MW · 96 30 Oct 2016 · 1,713 MW · 110 31 Oct 2016 · 1,877 MW · 117 1 Nov 2016 · 12 MW · 8 2 Nov 2016 · 1,301 MW · 122 3 Nov 2016 · 377 MW · 47 4 Nov 2016 · 466 MW · 46 5 Nov 2016 · 205 MW · 48 6 Nov 2016 · 1,096 MW · 81 7 Nov 2016 · 337 MW · 46 8 Nov 2016 · 145 MW · 10 9 Nov 2016 · 489 MW · 24 10 Nov 2016 · 48 MW · 21 11 Nov 2016 · 803 MW · 38 12 Nov 2016 · 1,824 MW · 83 13 Nov 2016 · 1,252 MW · 78 14 Nov 2016 · 701 MW · 93 15 Nov 2016 · 908 MW · 65 16 Nov 2016 · 236 MW · 22 17 Nov 2016 · 6 MW · 1 18 Nov 2016 · 3 MW · 1 19 Nov 2016 · 13 MW · 2 20 Nov 2016 · 14 MW · 2 21 Nov 2016 · 4 MW · 4 22 Nov 2016 · 191 MW · 21 23 Nov 2016 · 83 MW · 13 24 Nov 2016 · 1,944 MW · 48 25 Nov 2016 · 3,420 MW · 60 26 Nov 2016 · 89 MW · 19
17 Sept 27 Sept 8 Oct 18 Oct 27 Oct 28 Oct 7 Nov 17 Nov

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

The weather it burned in

29°high
67km/h · peak gust
26%lowest humidity

It had gone 12 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.8 mm on 27 Nov.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 44% of the area of London (698 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

  1. Nkhata Bay where it started
    68,005 ha reached on 17 Sept
    16 %
  2. Mzimba
    2,319 ha reached on 23 Sept
    0.2 %

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 2015
Built-up area40 ha
Residents≈ 7,400

Inside the perimeter there were about 40 hectares of built-up land and about 7,400 residents (GHSL 2015, 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.

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)
17 Sept 25.6 °C 40 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
18 Sept 24.1 °C 37 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
19 Sept 21.6 °C 39 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
20 Sept 20.8 °C 41 % 67 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
21 Sept 21.8 °C 34 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
22 Sept 22.1 °C 35 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
23 Sept 23.4 °C 36 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
24 Sept 24.3 °C 31 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
25 Sept 24.2 °C 28 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Sept 23.4 °C 37 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
27 Sept 24.0 °C 33 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Sept 23.6 °C 40 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
29 Sept 22.6 °C 46 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
30 Sept 24.6 °C 35 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
1 Oct 24.8 °C 35 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
2 Oct 25.1 °C 33 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
3 Oct 26.1 °C 32 % 46 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
4 Oct 19.1 °C 70 % 51 km/h 3.5 mm Low 5
5 Oct 21.8 °C 57 % 39 km/h 0.8 mm Low 7
6 Oct 25.5 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
7 Oct 26.7 °C 41 % 40 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 21
8 Oct 25.8 °C 30 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
9 Oct 25.3 °C 36 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
10 Oct 24.3 °C 38 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Oct 24.4 °C 40 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Oct 25.5 °C 26 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
13 Oct 25.3 °C 28 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Oct 24.7 °C 31 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
15 Oct 24.1 °C 34 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Oct 25.8 °C 37 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
17 Oct 27.0 °C 37 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Oct 25.2 °C 33 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
19 Oct 23.3 °C 35 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
20 Oct 24.1 °C 31 % 64 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
21 Oct 25.0 °C 32 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
22 Oct 26.4 °C 27 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
23 Oct 27.2 °C 28 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Oct 27.4 °C 30 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Oct 26.3 °C 32 % 47 km/h 0.7 mm High 30
26 Oct 25.1 °C 37 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
27 Oct 25.6 °C 33 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Oct 25.3 °C 37 % 48 km/h 0.5 mm High 31
29 Oct 25.8 °C 37 % 45 km/h 0.4 mm High 31
30 Oct 24.8 °C 46 % 38 km/h 5.6 mm Low 5
31 Oct 25.5 °C 51 % 43 km/h 6.7 mm Very low 4
1 Nov 26.8 °C 44 % 38 km/h 2.2 mm Very low 5
2 Nov 26.9 °C 32 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
3 Nov 26.3 °C 38 % 56 km/h 0.6 mm High 22
4 Nov 25.5 °C 32 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
5 Nov 25.9 °C 36 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
6 Nov 25.4 °C 41 % 54 km/h 0.3 mm High 26
7 Nov 23.1 °C 44 % 54 km/h 0.5 mm High 24
8 Nov 24.5 °C 52 % 47 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 14
9 Nov 26.2 °C 29 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
10 Nov 28.9 °C 26 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
11 Nov 27.4 °C 26 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
12 Nov 27.1 °C 28 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
13 Nov 27.7 °C 35 % 35 km/h 1.8 mm Moderate 13
14 Nov 27.0 °C 41 % 45 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 20
15 Nov 26.4 °C 38 % 57 km/h 1.2 mm Moderate 20
16 Nov 25.8 °C 37 % 62 km/h 0.8 mm High 25
17 Nov 25.7 °C 40 % 52 km/h 0.6 mm High 24
18 Nov 25.0 °C 49 % 40 km/h 8.5 mm Very low 4
19 Nov 24.6 °C 46 % 44 km/h 3.7 mm Very low 4
20 Nov 24.4 °C 58 % 48 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 4
21 Nov 24.2 °C 52 % 53 km/h 1.2 mm Low 7
22 Nov 26.4 °C 49 % 51 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 13
23 Nov 24.7 °C 57 % 52 km/h 1.6 mm Low 6
24 Nov 25.7 °C 38 % 44 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 14
25 Nov 27.2 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 18
26 Nov 26.2 °C 44 % 43 km/h 2.3 mm Low 7
27 Nov after 26.1 °C 43 % 44 km/h 5.8 mm Very low 3

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 10 Sept 2016
After · 3 Dec 2016

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 5,812Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Malawi ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Nkhata Bay fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 September 2016 to 26 November 2016 (71 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 September 2016 to 19 November 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 69,845 hectares (698.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Nkhata Bay (68,005 ha, 16 %); Mzimba (2,319 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.9 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 67 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Malawi (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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 19 November 2016 → 26 November 2016.
  2. Start date: 24 September 2016 → 17 September 2016.

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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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 15 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 24 September 2016 to 19 November 2016. 5,812 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 2015, 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 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.