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ZM · Zambia · –

Chipili fire, 22 August 2018 Mansa, Lupososhi, Chipili

Out · last detection 21 Sept 2018, 11:07 UTC

The fire started on 22 August 2018 in Chipili, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 31 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 83,227 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 12th largest in Luapula since 2016 (of 449 with a page). The largest in Zambia in 2018, of 204.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Mansa · 2019Kipushi · 2024Mansa · 2017Mansa · 2016

Burnt area
83,227ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
31days
22 Aug 2018 – 21 Sept 2018
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
22 Aug
2018
Heat detections
3,336
in a single hotspot: 138 MW
Danger at start
40
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
1.3GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Aug21 Sept
21 Sept 2018

How it evolved, day by day

22 Aug 2018 · 26 MW · 6 23 Aug 2018 · 71 MW · 7 24 Aug 2018 · 51 MW · 6 25 Aug 2018 · 151 MW · 11 26 Aug 2018 · 49 MW · 6 27 Aug 2018 · 802 MW · 53 28 Aug 2018 · 2,385 MW · 180 29 Aug 2018 · 3,094 MW · 269 30 Aug 2018 · 2,367 MW · 216 31 Aug 2018 · 3,503 MW · 345 1 Sept 2018 · 4,593 MW · 328 2 Sept 2018 · 4,304 MW · 304 3 Sept 2018 · 5,236 MW · 393 4 Sept 2018 · 3,091 MW · 261 5 Sept 2018 · 3,013 MW · 199 6 Sept 2018 · 2,353 MW · 179 7 Sept 2018 · 2,267 MW · 214 8 Sept 2018 · 897 MW · 69 9 Sept 2018 · 1,389 MW · 123 10 Sept 2018 · 100 MW · 15 11 Sept 2018 · 197 MW · 24 12 Sept 2018 · 374 MW · 21 13 Sept 2018 · 327 MW · 37 14 Sept 2018 · 88 MW · 12 15 Sept 2018 · 291 MW · 23 16 Sept 2018 · 22 MW · 6 17 Sept 2018 · 88 MW · 9 18 Sept 2018 · 94 MW · 13 19 Sept 2018 · 9 MW · 2 20 Sept 2018 · 14 MW · 2 21 Sept 2018 · 19 MW · 3
22 Aug 29 Aug 3 Sept 12 Sept 19 Sept

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
56km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

91% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 59,322 ha in 2016, 58,170 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 75,478 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 53% of the area of London (832 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. Mansa
    74,335 ha
    9.6 %
  2. Lupososhi
    4,744 ha
    1.1 %
  3. Chipili where it started
    4,693 ha
    1.1 %

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.

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)

Started with 60 days without rain: 91 % of the area in Zambia

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
22 Aug 29.0 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Aug 29.5 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
24 Aug 28.1 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Aug 27.9 °C 27 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
26 Aug 28.6 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 Aug 28.7 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
28 Aug 28.2 °C 20 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
29 Aug 26.6 °C 28 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
30 Aug 26.4 °C 30 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
31 Aug 26.8 °C 27 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Sept 28.0 °C 27 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
2 Sept 28.8 °C 26 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Sept 29.8 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Sept 29.4 °C 21 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
5 Sept 29.5 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
6 Sept 29.5 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
7 Sept 30.3 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
8 Sept 29.5 °C 29 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
9 Sept 29.7 °C 41 % 29 km/h 2.4 mm High 33
10 Sept 28.3 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
11 Sept 28.7 °C 36 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Sept 29.3 °C 26 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
13 Sept 30.3 °C 25 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Sept 31.1 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
15 Sept 31.4 °C 21 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
16 Sept 31.0 °C 21 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
17 Sept 30.8 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
18 Sept 31.4 °C 16 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
19 Sept 30.3 °C 17 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
20 Sept 30.7 °C 17 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
21 Sept 30.4 °C 25 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
22 Sept after 30.9 °C 21 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
23 Sept after 30.7 °C 23 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
24 Sept after 30.0 °C 28 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
25 Sept after 30.3 °C 25 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
26 Sept after 31.8 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
27 Sept after 32.1 °C 22 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
28 Sept after 31.2 °C 24 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
29 Sept after 32.1 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
30 Sept after 29.8 °C 23 % 69 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 81
1 Oct after 27.8 °C 32 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 39.7, a minimum humidity of 26% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 67.

FWI at the start 39.7
Minimum humidity 26 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Mansa fire, July 2019
5,097 ha 13 days FWI 39.6 Min. humidity 26 % 77 km away, in 2019

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

17 days
median duration
5,300 ha
median area
30 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 10 of 67 had it)

It was 15.7 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 31 days, against 17 days.

Only 2 of its 67 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 57 of 67, 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 2.4 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

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
56km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 21 Sept, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 10 of 67, with a median of 2.4 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 · 15 Aug 2018
After · 28 Sept 2018

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 · 3,336Every 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 Zambia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Chipili fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 August 2018 to 21 September 2018 (31 days). The perimeter dates it from 27 August 2018 to 14 September 2018.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 83,227 hectares (832.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Mansa (74,335 ha, 9.6 %); Lupososhi (4,744 ha, 1.1 %); Chipili (4,693 ha, 1.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.4 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 64, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zambia (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: 67. Their median duration was 17 days and their median area 5,300 ha; 30 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 2 of its 67 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 57 of 67, 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 2.4 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: 14 September 2018 → 21 September 2018.
  2. Start date: 27 August 2018 → 22 August 2018.

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; 4 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 27 August 2018 to 14 September 2018. 3,336 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.

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 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.