Rumphi fire, 9 November 2021 Rumphi
The fire started on 9 November 2021 in Rumphi, Malawi, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,635 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 52th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 418 with a page). Number 6 in Malawi in 2021, of 66.
- Burnt area
- 3,635ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 9 Nov 2021 – 15 Nov 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 9 Nov
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 163
- in a single hotspot: 132 MW
- Danger at start
- 18
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.6GW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.4 mm on 25 Nov.
This area had burned before
77% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,017 ha in 2016, 1,267 ha in 2017, 908 ha in 2018, 1,135 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,807 ha that had burned before.
- 1,267 ha Rumphi fire, August 2017 4,108 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,224 ha Rumphi fire, July 2016 1,876 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,135 ha Rumphi fire, August 2019 11,230 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 908 ha Rumphi fire, August 2018 4,664 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 532 ha Rumphi fire, July 2016 1,454 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Rumphi where it started3,617 ha reached on 9 Nov0.8 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Nov | 25.2 °C | 21 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 10 Nov | 24.8 °C | 28 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 11 Nov | 25.4 °C | 22 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 12 Nov | 24.6 °C | 31 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 13 Nov | 26.0 °C | 24 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 14 Nov | 23.4 °C | 34 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 15 Nov | 23.7 °C | 33 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 16 Nov after | 22.5 °C | 35 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 17 Nov after | 23.5 °C | 39 % | 35 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 18 Nov after | 24.7 °C | 34 % | 33 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 19 Nov after | 24.6 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.4 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 20 Nov after | 25.6 °C | 26 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 21 Nov after | 24.7 °C | 32 % | 41 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 22 Nov after | 24.3 °C | 29 % | 34 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 23 Nov after | 25.3 °C | 26 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 24 Nov after | 27.3 °C | 21 % | 33 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 22 |
| 25 Nov after | 23.4 °C | 34 % | 40 km/h | 3.4 mm | Very low 4 |
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 · 163Every 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 9 November 2021 and 15 November 2021: 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 3,635 hectares (36.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Rumphi (3,617 ha, 0.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 26.0 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 46 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.