Shamva fire, August 2026 Shamva
The fire started on 22 August 2026 in Shamva, Zimbabwe, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,380 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 129th largest in Mashonaland Central since 2016 (of 332 with a page). Number 178 in Zimbabwe in 2026, of 370.
The power measured by the satellite is low (17.8 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
- 1,380ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 22 Aug 2026 – 23 Aug 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 22 Aug
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 22
- in a single hotspot: 18 MW
- Danger at start
- 37
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 182MW
- 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
11% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 50 ha in 2018, 96 ha in 2022.
What happened to each town
-
Shamva where it started1,387 ha reached on 22 Aug0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Aug | 29.2 °C | 23 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 23 Aug | 30.0 °C | 20 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 24 Aug after | 27.1 °C | 31 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 25 Aug after | 27.3 °C | 23 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 26 Aug after | 28.9 °C | 22 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 27 Aug after | 25.6 °C | 25 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 28 Aug after | 24.8 °C | 26 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 29 Aug after | 24.4 °C | 41 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 30 Aug after | 27.4 °C | 35 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 31 Aug after | 29.2 °C | 29 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 1 Sept after | 29.3 °C | 26 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 2 Sept after | 28.2 °C | 28 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
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 25 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 54 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 28: 1.9 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 · 22Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 6,034 haBindura2 October 2022 · 11 days · 31 km away
- 2,273 haBindura6 October 2016 · 5 days · 31 km away
- 3,499 haMount Darwin31 August 2026 · 8 days · 32 km away
- 3,128 haMount Darwin21 September 2021 · 2 days · 32 km away
- 2,531 haMount Darwin28 September 2022 · 3 days · 35 km away
- 3,335 haMount Darwin5 September 2019 · 2 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Shamva fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 August 2026 and 23 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 1,380 hectares (13.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Shamva (1,387 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.0 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zimbabwe (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.