Rumphi fire, 2 August 2019 Rumphi, Chitipa
The fire started on 2 August 2019 in Rumphi, Malawi, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,737 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 82th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 418 with a page). Number 13 in Malawi in 2019, of 60.
- Burnt area
- 2,737ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 2 Aug 2019 – 3 Aug 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 2 Aug
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 68
- in a single hotspot: 53 MW
- Danger at start
- 13
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.0GW
- 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 48 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
92% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 223 ha in 2016, 2,761 ha in 2017, 62 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,522 ha that had burned before.
- 1,987 ha Chitipa fire, October 2017 4,007 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 740 ha Chitipa fire, June 2017 2,425 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 62 ha Chitipa fire, August 2018 1,207 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 34 ha Chitipa fire, August 2017 2,199 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Rumphi where it started1,387 ha reached on 2 Aug0.3 %
-
1,298 ha reached on 2 Aug0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Aug | 18.8 °C | 55 % | 52 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 3 Aug | 20.9 °C | 38 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 4 Aug after | 22.3 °C | 33 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 5 Aug after | 22.0 °C | 34 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 6 Aug after | 22.6 °C | 29 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 7 Aug after | 22.8 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 8 Aug after | 23.1 °C | 29 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 9 Aug after | 22.5 °C | 28 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 10 Aug after | 19.8 °C | 32 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 11 Aug after | 19.5 °C | 31 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 12 Aug after | 20.9 °C | 21 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 13 Aug after | 20.6 °C | 31 % | 38 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 · 68Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 7,693 haChitipa29 July 2016 · 6 days · 15 km away
- 5,896 haRumphi15 September 2017 · 4 days · 18 km away
- 11,230 haRumphi3 August 2019 · 7 days · 19 km away
- 7,699 haMafinga15 October 2017 · 12 days · 23 km away
- 11,134 haMafinga11 October 2017 · 11 days · 26 km away
- 15,016 haMafingaSeptember 2025 · 30 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Rumphi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 2 August 2019 and 3 August 2019: 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 2,737 hectares (27.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Rumphi (1,387 ha, 0.3 %); Chitipa (1,298 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 20.9 °C, humidity dropped to 38 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 19, class Moderate.
- 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.