Chitambo fire, 30 August 2021 Chitambo, Lavushimanda
The fire started on 30 August 2021 in Chitambo, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 27 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 39,948 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 4th largest in Central since 2016 (of 401 with a page). Number 5 in Zambia in 2021, of 213.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 39,948ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 27days
- 30 Aug 2021 – 25 Sept 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 30 Aug
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 1,730
- in a single hotspot: 161 MW
- Danger at start
- 23
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 809MW
- 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 36 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.7 mm on 5 Oct.
This area had burned before
88% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 19,200 ha in 2016, 17,780 ha in 2017, 19,850 ha in 2018, 16,411 ha in 2019, 24,107 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 35,044 ha that had burned before.
- 16,529 ha Chitambo fire, September 2020 25,336 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 15,149 ha Chitambo fire, September 2018 25,250 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 11,437 ha Chitambo fire, September 2016 18,853 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10,169 ha Chitambo fire, September 2019 12,241 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 9,762 ha Chitambo fire, September 2017 11,277 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,249 ha Chitambo fire, September 2017 9,418 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,835 ha Chitambo fire, August 2020 16,181 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,179 ha Chitambo fire, September 2019 9,605 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Chitambo where it started36,056 ha reached on 30 Aug3.0 %
-
4,175 ha reached on 1 Sept0.3 %
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)
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Aug | 23.4 °C | 42 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 31 Aug | 25.4 °C | 27 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 1 Sept | 24.7 °C | 33 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 2 Sept | 25.1 °C | 36 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 3 Sept | 24.6 °C | 35 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 4 Sept | 25.4 °C | 35 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 5 Sept | 25.1 °C | 28 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 6 Sept | 25.5 °C | 29 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 7 Sept | 26.4 °C | 31 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 8 Sept | 25.7 °C | 33 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 9 Sept | 24.6 °C | 32 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 10 Sept | 23.1 °C | 35 % | 57 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 11 Sept | 20.0 °C | 42 % | 42 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 12 Sept | 22.5 °C | 40 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 13 Sept | 26.9 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 14 Sept | 27.1 °C | 33 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 15 Sept | 27.4 °C | 27 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 16 Sept | 29.4 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 17 Sept | 30.2 °C | 25 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 18 Sept | 25.6 °C | 37 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 19 Sept | 22.8 °C | 47 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 20 Sept | 26.1 °C | 32 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 21 Sept | 29.1 °C | 19 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 22 Sept | 25.4 °C | 33 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 23 Sept | 22.7 °C | 45 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 24 Sept | 25.8 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 25 Sept | 26.2 °C | 30 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 26 Sept after | 26.8 °C | 30 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 27 Sept after | 27.1 °C | 33 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 28 Sept after | 28.5 °C | 31 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 29 Sept after | 29.3 °C | 29 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 30 Sept after | 29.3 °C | 27 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 1 Oct after | 27.7 °C | 35 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 2 Oct after | 29.2 °C | 29 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 3 Oct after | 30.0 °C | 34 % | 30 km/h | 0.9 mm | High 24 |
| 4 Oct after | 28.0 °C | 40 % | 39 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 29 |
| 5 Oct after | 27.6 °C | 43 % | 45 km/h | 2.7 mm | Moderate 11 |
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 · 1,730Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 65,144 haChitambo25 August 2025 · 34 days · 8 km away
- 21,401 haChitambo30 August 2023 · 22 days · 15 km away
- 16,181 haChitambo30 August 2020 · 26 days · 16 km away
- 46,195 haChitambo29 August 2026 · 31 days · 18 km away
- 25,336 haChitambo7 September 2020 · 16 days · 19 km away
- 18,853 haChitambo5 September 2016 · 22 days · 19 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Chitambo fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 30 August 2021 to 25 September 2021 (27 days). The perimeter dates it from 5 September 2021 to 18 September 2021.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 39,948 hectares (399.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Chitambo (36,056 ha, 3.0 %); Lavushimanda (4,175 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.2 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 57 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 Zambia (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
History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
- Last day with fire: 18 September 2021 → 25 September 2021.
- Start date: 5 September 2021 → 30 August 2021.
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 3 polygons grouped in this page.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 5 September 2021 to 18 September 2021. 1,730 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.
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.