Dungu fire, 22 January 2018 Dungu, Faradje
The fire started on 22 January 2018 in Dungu, Congo - Kinshasa, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 43,572 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 9th largest in Upper Uele since 2016 (of 101 with a page). Number 3 in Congo - Kinshasa in 2018, of 128.
- Burnt area
- 43,572ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 12days
- 22 Jan 2018 – 2 Feb 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- territories
- Started on
- 22 Jan
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 1,934
- in a single hotspot: 266 MW
- Danger at start
- 38
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 24.1GW
- sum of detected power
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 44 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
78% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 24,637 ha in 2016, 24,052 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 34,199 ha that had burned before.
- 14,284 ha Dungu fire, January 2017 58,675 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 8,614 ha Dungu fire, January 2016 17,742 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,035 ha Dungu fire, January 2017 20,730 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,670 ha Dungu fire, January 2016 8,874 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,308 ha Dungu fire, January 2017 5,236 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,297 ha Faradje fire, February 2016 5,230 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,976 ha Dungu fire, January 2016 9,610 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 478 ha Dungu fire, December 2017 5,370 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Dungu where it started39,023 ha reached on 15 Jan1.2 %
-
4,842 ha reached on 16 Jan0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Jan | 33.1 °C | 20 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 16 Jan | 34.3 °C | 13 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 17 Jan | 34.9 °C | 15 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 18 Jan | 35.2 °C | 15 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 19 Jan | 35.6 °C | 13 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 20 Jan | 35.2 °C | 14 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 21 Jan | 36.5 °C | 13 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 22 Jan | 35.7 °C | 12 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 23 Jan | 37.0 °C | 13 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 24 Jan | 33.9 °C | 24 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 25 Jan | 33.3 °C | 23 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 26 Jan | 34.8 °C | 14 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 27 Jan | 34.8 °C | 15 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 28 Jan | 35.8 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 29 Jan | 35.0 °C | 11 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 30 Jan | 34.8 °C | 11 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 31 Jan | 35.3 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 1 Feb | 36.0 °C | 12 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 2 Feb | 36.6 °C | 13 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 3 Feb after | 36.5 °C | 16 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 4 Feb after | 35.7 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 5 Feb after | 35.5 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 6 Feb after | 38.1 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 7 Feb after | 38.1 °C | 15 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 8 Feb after | 39.1 °C | 11 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 9 Feb after | 36.2 °C | 19 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 10 Feb after | 34.9 °C | 25 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 11 Feb after | 34.0 °C | 24 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 12 Feb after | 36.3 °C | 16 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 13 Feb after | 37.1 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 14 Feb after | 37.8 °C | 16 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 15 Feb after | 38.9 °C | 11 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
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 · 1,934Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 44,131 haDungu12 February 2019 · 10 days · 12 km away
- 58,675 haDungu13 January 2017 · 8 days · 17 km away
- 123,194 haDungu22 January 2020 · 9 days · 24 km away
- 64,646 haDungu9 January 2025 · 10 days · 25 km away
- 45,193 haDungu9 January 2026 · 18 days · 28 km away
- 58,059 haDungu12 January 2026 · 26 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Dungu fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 January 2018 and 2 February 2018: 12 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 43,572 hectares (435.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Dungu (39,023 ha, 1.2 %); Faradje (4,842 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Congo - Kinshasa (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.