Rumphi fire, 16 August 2019 Rumphi, Chitipa
The fire started on 16 August 2019 in Rumphi, Malawi, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,093 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 65th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 418 with a page). Number 10 in Malawi in 2019, of 60.
- Burnt area
- 3,093ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 16 Aug 2019 – 20 Aug 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 16 Aug
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 76
- in a single hotspot: 151 MW
- Danger at start
- 29
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 691MW
- 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 13 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
73% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 248 ha in 2016, 424 ha in 2017, 2,233 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,270 ha that had burned before.
- 2,166 ha Chitipa fire, August 2018 3,635 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 424 ha Rumphi fire, September 2017 4,225 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 247 ha Rumphi fire, September 2016 1,454 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 67 ha Rumphi fire, September 2018 1,779 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Rumphi where it started2,075 ha reached on 15 Aug0.4 %
-
1,037 ha reached on 16 Aug0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Aug | 17.4 °C | 33 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 17 Aug | 20.2 °C | 29 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 18 Aug | 19.6 °C | 26 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 19 Aug | 19.4 °C | 27 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 20 Aug | 19.5 °C | 25 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 21 Aug after | 19.4 °C | 27 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 22 Aug after | 18.5 °C | 29 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 23 Aug after | 19.2 °C | 33 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 24 Aug after | 19.4 °C | 39 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 25 Aug after | 21.1 °C | 34 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 26 Aug after | 22.2 °C | 30 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 27 Aug after | 22.5 °C | 26 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 28 Aug after | 22.6 °C | 25 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 29 Aug after | 22.6 °C | 23 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 30 Aug after | 22.9 °C | 20 % | 28 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 · 76Every 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 Rumphi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 August 2019 and 20 August 2019: 5 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 3,093 hectares (30.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Rumphi (2,075 ha, 0.4 %); Chitipa (1,037 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 20.2 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 47 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.