WILDFIRE

Wildfire near Mzimba, Malawi

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Map: Wildfire near Mzimba, Malawi

GDACS has tracked this wildfire near Mzimba, Malawi since October 16, 2026, 12 days as of its latest update on October 28. It carries a GREEN alert: limited humanitarian impact expected. Satellites put the burned area at 63,696 acres (25,777 hectares, 258 km²), roughly 4.4 times the size of Manhattan, or about 48,255 American football fields.

TypeWildfire
GDACS alertGreen
CountryMalawi
SinceOct 16, 2026
Tracked for12 days
Burned area25,777 ha · 63,696 acres
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How the size is measured

GDACS estimates burned areas from satellite data, so the figures cover the whole fire complex and may include several fires burning close together.

Seen from space

Satellite picture, When tracking began · October 16, 2026
When tracking began · October 16, 2026
Satellite picture, Latest · October 28, 2026
Latest · October 28, 2026

True color from the VIIRS instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite. Red dots are fires detected by their heat; smoke shows as gray-brown haze. The ring marks where the event was reported. Pictures: NASA Worldview (GIBS) from the daily satellite passes; clouds can hide the ground on some days.

GDACS report. Source: GDACS, the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System of the United Nations and the European Commission (CC BY 4.0).

More: every wildfire page · all events

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