57 fire pixels detected · FRP: 422 MW · ~8.0 km²
Geographic Context
This fire event occurred near Nsanje (approximately 113 km away) in Malawi, an area that experiences a range of natural hazards.
Event Assessment
This event is a significant wildfire detected by satellite with a fire radiative power of 422 MW, suggesting active, intense burning across multiple detection pixels. Calamity.live has classified it as "critical" severity with a severity value of 99.208. The computed Calamity Score is 46 out of 100, reflecting a moderate-impact event. The primary scoring components are: historical (80), cascading (70), intensity (60). Data for this event was sourced from firms, one of the 250 scientific monitoring sources aggregated by Calamity.live.
Regional Monitoring Context
Malawi has a documented history of fire events. Wildfire activity in the region is monitored through NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System), which provides near-real-time active fire data from MODIS and VIIRS satellites. Fire behavior is influenced by vegetation type, moisture content, wind patterns, and terrain — all factors that determine whether an initial ignition becomes a major event.
Cascade Risk Analysis
This event may trigger secondary hazards through cascade effects. Cascade detection is an automated process that evaluates how primary disasters can trigger secondary events — for example, earthquakes triggering landslides, or volcanic eruptions causing lahars and pyroclastic flows. These secondary hazards can sometimes pose a greater threat than the initial event, particularly in mountainous terrain or densely populated areas.
Event Data
| Type | Fire |
| Severity | critical |
| Severity Value | 99.208 |
| Calamity Score | 46 / 100 |
| Confidence | 64% |
| Coordinates | -17.4031, 34.3213 |
| Nearest City | Nsanje (113 km) |
| Impact Tier | minor |
| Timestamp | 2026-05-12T11:19:00.000Z |
Score Breakdown
Technical Details
| Brightness | 354.85 |
| Frp | 422.08 |
| PixelCount | 57 |
| Confidence | nominal |
| Area Km2 | 7.98 |
Cascade Risks
Safety Information
If a wildfire is approaching: follow evacuation orders immediately. Do not wait to see the fire. Close all windows and doors, remove combustible materials from around your home, and have an emergency go-bag ready. Air quality can deteriorate rapidly even at distance from the fire front — monitor local air quality advisories.
This data is aggregated algorithmically from scientific sources. Not a replacement for official emergency warnings.
Calamity.live data shows a fire event with CalamityScore 46/100, near Nsanje (Malawi), based on data from firms. Source: Calamity.live, a platform aggregating real-time data from 207 scientific monitoring sources.