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CD · Democratic Republic of the Congo · –

Bulungu fire, 21 July 2020 Bulungu

Out · last detection 18 Aug 2020, 11:41 UTC

The fire started on 21 July 2020 in Bulungu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and satellites saw it burning for 28 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,517 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 90th largest in Kwilu since 2016 (of 151 with a page). Number 92 in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2020, of 165.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Masi-Manimba · 2022Masi-Manimba · 2022Bulungu · 2016Bulungu · 2026

Burnt area
6,517ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
28days
21 Jul 2020 – 17 Aug 2020
Municipalities hit
1
territories
Started on
21 Jul
2020
Heat detections
299
in a single hotspot: 207 MW
Danger at start
30
High · FWI index
Average daily power
175MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Jul17 Aug
18 Aug 2020

How it evolved, day by day

21 Jul 2020 · 9 MW · 1 23 Jul 2020 · 19 MW · 2 25 Jul 2020 · 12 MW · 2 26 Jul 2020 · 11 MW · 3 27 Jul 2020 · 17 MW · 3 28 Jul 2020 · 2 MW · 1 29 Jul 2020 · 7 MW · 2 30 Jul 2020 · 108 MW · 13 31 Jul 2020 · 99 MW · 9 1 Aug 2020 · 57 MW · 2 2 Aug 2020 · 10 MW · 2 3 Aug 2020 · 154 MW · 16 4 Aug 2020 · 4 MW · 1 5 Aug 2020 · 541 MW · 22 6 Aug 2020 · 463 MW · 37 7 Aug 2020 · 620 MW · 27 8 Aug 2020 · 472 MW · 34 9 Aug 2020 · 34 MW · 6 10 Aug 2020 · 539 MW · 34 11 Aug 2020 · 202 MW · 22 12 Aug 2020 · 701 MW · 18 13 Aug 2020 · 3 MW · 1 14 Aug 2020 · 84 MW · 10 15 Aug 2020 · 146 MW · 13 16 Aug 2020 · 42 MW · 4 17 Aug 2020 · 379 MW · 13 18 Aug 2020 · 3 MW · 1
21 Jul 29 Jul 4 Aug 12 Aug

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

36°high
32km/h · peak gust
30%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.5 mm on 20 Aug.

This area had burned before

86% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,263 ha in 2016, 4,471 ha in 2017, 540 ha in 2018, 3,000 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,611 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 4.1% of the area of London (65 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Bulungu where it started
    6,555 ha reached on 21 Jul
    0.5 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area5.3 ha
Residents≈ 950

Inside the perimeter there were about 5.3 hectares of built-up land and about 950 residents (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
21 Jul 33.8 °C 30 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
22 Jul 34.6 °C 33 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Jul 33.0 °C 35 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
24 Jul 33.3 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
25 Jul 32.6 °C 45 % 24 km/h 0.1 mm High 24
26 Jul 32.9 °C 38 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
27 Jul 31.9 °C 42 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
28 Jul 32.4 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
29 Jul 33.0 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
30 Jul 34.2 °C 32 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
31 Jul 34.3 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
1 Aug 33.3 °C 36 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
2 Aug 33.5 °C 38 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
3 Aug 33.7 °C 43 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm High 29
4 Aug 32.6 °C 44 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
5 Aug 32.4 °C 42 % 30 km/h 0.3 mm High 33
6 Aug 33.8 °C 39 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
7 Aug 33.7 °C 38 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
8 Aug 33.2 °C 40 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
9 Aug 35.1 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
10 Aug 32.4 °C 40 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
11 Aug 34.3 °C 39 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
12 Aug 33.5 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
13 Aug 34.1 °C 39 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
14 Aug 32.3 °C 41 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
15 Aug 33.4 °C 45 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm High 29
16 Aug 35.9 °C 36 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
17 Aug 35.4 °C 39 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
18 Aug after 35.1 °C 37 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
19 Aug after 35.0 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
20 Aug after 33.9 °C 45 % 23 km/h 5.5 mm Moderate 16

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 30.1, a minimum humidity of 30% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 23.

FWI at the start 30.1
Minimum humidity 30 %
Days without rain 3
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Masi-Manimba fire, June 2022
5,390 ha 12 days FWI 30.0 Min. humidity 31 % 114 km away, in 2022

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.7 mm on 21 Jun.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

23 days
median duration
6,222 ha
median area
13 %
went past 10,000 ha
4.0 mm
rain at the end (median; 17 of 23 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (6,517 ha against a median of 6,222 ha) and lasted 28 days, against 23 days.

In 6 of 23, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.0 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

5.5 mmfirst rain
20 Aug3 days after it ended
32km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 17 Aug, and on 20 Aug 5.5 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 17 of 23, with a median of 4.0 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 14 Jul 2020
After · 24 Aug 2020

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 · 299Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bulungu fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 21 July 2020 to 17 August 2020 (28 days). The perimeter dates it from 28 July 2020 to 16 August 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,517 hectares (65.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Bulungu (6,555 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 23. Their median duration was 23 days and their median area 6,222 ha; 13 % went past 10,000 ha. In 6 of 23, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.0 mm.

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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 16 August 2020 → 17 August 2020.
  2. Start date: 28 July 2020 → 21 July 2020.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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.

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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 28 July 2020 to 16 August 2020. 299 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.