Rumphi fire, 24 August 2026 Rumphi
The fire started on 24 August 2026 in Rumphi, Malawi, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,607 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 175th largest in Northern Region since 2016 (of 418 with a page). Number 34 in Malawi in 2026, of 91.
- Burnt area
- 1,607ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 24 Aug 2026 – 25 Aug 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 24 Aug
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 18
- in a single hotspot: 36 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 275MW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 708 ha in 2016, 736 ha in 2017, 1,565 ha in 2018, 706 ha in 2019, 48 ha in 2022, 188 ha in 2023, 454 ha in 2024, 8 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,612 ha that had burned before.
- 1,075 ha Chitipa fire, August 2018 3,635 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 736 ha Rumphi fire, September 2017 4,225 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 708 ha Rumphi fire, September 2016 1,454 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 706 ha Rumphi fire, August 2019 3,093 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 490 ha Rumphi fire, September 2018 1,779 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 232 ha Rumphi fire, July 2024 1,523 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 222 ha Rumphi fire, July 2024 4,244 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 188 ha Chitipa fire, July 2023 1,127 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Rumphi where it started1,616 ha reached on 24 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Aug | 21.1 °C | 37 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 25 Aug | 21.5 °C | 34 % | 38 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 22 |
| 26 Aug after | 22.2 °C | 36 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 27 Aug after | 20.1 °C | 39 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Aug after | 20.4 °C | 41 % | 41 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 24 |
| 29 Aug after | 20.3 °C | 32 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 30 Aug after | 20.4 °C | 35 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 31 Aug after | 22.3 °C | 31 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 1 Sept after | 21.9 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 27 |
| 2 Sept after | 21.6 °C | 29 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 3 Sept after | 23.1 °C | 27 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 4 Sept after | 25.2 °C | 22 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
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 26 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 45 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 34: 2.2 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)
Detections table · 18Every 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 24 August 2026 and 25 August 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 1,607 hectares (16.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Rumphi (1,616 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 21.5 °C, humidity dropped to 34 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 22, 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.