Bukama fire, August 2021 Bukama
The fire started on 18 August 2021 in Bukama, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,718 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 49th largest in Haut-Lomami since 2016 (of 172 with a page). Number 34 in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2021, of 97.
- Burnt area
- 7,718ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 18 Aug 2021 – 19 Aug 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- territories
- Started on
- 18 Aug
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 202
- in a single hotspot: 400 MW
- Danger at start
- 38
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 5.2GW
- detected power per day, on average
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
82% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,071 ha in 2016, 661 ha in 2017, 2,294 ha in 2018, 2,286 ha in 2019, 2,104 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,312 ha that had burned before.
- 4,266 ha Bukama fire, August 2016 6,612 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 804 ha Bukama fire, August 2016 9,192 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 163 ha Bukama fire, July 2017 6,893 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Bukama where it started7,755 ha reached on 18 Aug0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Aug | 34.6 °C | 26 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 19 Aug | 31.7 °C | 41 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 20 Aug after | 32.2 °C | 39 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 21 Aug after | 32.2 °C | 30 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 22 Aug after | 33.0 °C | 35 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 23 Aug after | 31.7 °C | 39 % | 33 km/h | 0.8 mm | High 26 |
| 24 Aug after | 32.8 °C | 34 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 25 Aug after | 34.2 °C | 28 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 26 Aug after | 35.1 °C | 25 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 27 Aug after | 36.5 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 28 Aug after | 34.5 °C | 33 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 29 Aug after | 34.3 °C | 28 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
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 · 202Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 14,847 haBukama16 August 2026 · 5 days · 3 km away
- 9,192 haBukama9 August 2016 · 5 days · 11 km away
- 19,846 haBukama4 August 2016 · 11 days · 17 km away
- 12,071 haKamina7 August 2024 · 6 days · 24 km away
- 18,210 haKamina15 August 2026 · 20 days · 31 km away
- 8,846 haKabongo31 July 2025 · 7 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Bukama fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 August 2021 and 19 August 2021: 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 7,718 hectares (77.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Bukama (7,755 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Democratic Republic of the Congo (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.