Rumphi fire, 29 August 2016 Rumphi
The fire started on 29 August 2016 in Rumphi, Malawi, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,843 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 73th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 418 with a page). Number 14 in Malawi in 2016, of 78.
The power measured by the satellite is low (29.5 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 2,843ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 29 Aug 2016 – 4 Sept 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 29 Aug
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 55
- in a single hotspot: 30 MW
- Danger at start
- 29
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 494MW
- 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 more than two months 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
-
Rumphi where it started2,859 ha reached on 29 Aug0.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Aug | 17.6 °C | 35 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 30 Aug | 18.5 °C | 32 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 31 Aug | 18.8 °C | 28 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 1 Sept | 18.2 °C | 35 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 2 Sept | 17.2 °C | 40 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 3 Sept | 19.6 °C | 25 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 4 Sept | 19.7 °C | 32 % | 32 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 25 |
| 5 Sept after | 21.8 °C | 25 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 6 Sept after | 22.1 °C | 26 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 7 Sept after | 22.1 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 8 Sept after | 23.8 °C | 25 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 9 Sept after | 22.3 °C | 21 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 10 Sept after | 21.6 °C | 19 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 11 Sept after | 20.3 °C | 37 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 12 Sept after | 21.3 °C | 27 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 13 Sept after | 21.5 °C | 28 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 14 Sept after | 21.5 °C | 30 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
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.
Detections table · 55Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 5,896 haRumphi15 September 2017 · 4 days · 5 km away
- 5,477 haRumphi23 July 2026 · 6 days · 5 km away
- 11,230 haRumphi3 August 2019 · 7 days · 9 km away
- 7,693 haChitipa29 July 2016 · 6 days · 19 km away
- 7,699 haMafinga15 October 2017 · 12 days · 38 km away
- 11,134 haMafinga11 October 2017 · 11 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Rumphi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 29 August 2016 and 4 September 2016: 7 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 2,843 hectares (28.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Rumphi (2,859 ha, 0.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 19.7 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, class 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
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.