Omaruru fire, July 2026 Omaruru, Daures
The fire started on 12 July 2026 in Omaruru, Namibia, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,560 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 3th largest in Erongo since 2016 (of 12 with a page). Number 53 in Namibia in 2026, of 153.
We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but not yet its hotspots: NASA publishes the yearly hotspot archive only once the year closes. The page picks them up automatically when they are available.
- Burnt area
- 4,560ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 12 Jul 2026 – 13 Jul 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- constituencies
- Started on
- 12 Jul
- 2026
- Danger at start
- 50
- Very high · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 51 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Omaruru where it started3,537 ha0.4 %
-
1,052 ha0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Jul | 26.8 °C | 7 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 13 Jul | 25.8 °C | 8 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 14 Jul after | 26.3 °C | 9 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 15 Jul after | 29.0 °C | 13 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 16 Jul after | 28.8 °C | 10 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 17 Jul after | 28.5 °C | 10 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 18 Jul after | 29.1 °C | 9 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 19 Jul after | 28.0 °C | 8 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 20 Jul after | 28.3 °C | 11 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 21 Jul after | 27.9 °C | 11 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 22 Jul after | 26.2 °C | 14 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 23 Jul after | 26.9 °C | 6 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
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 14 July 2026 the air beside the fire reached 45 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 31: 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)
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Omaruru fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 July 2026 and 13 July 2026: 2 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,560 hectares (45.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Omaruru (3,537 ha, 0.4 %); Daures (1,052 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 26.8 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 30 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, 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.