Epéna fire, 18 July 2026 Epéna
The fire started on 18 July 2026 in Epéna, Congo - Brazzaville, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,485 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 37th largest in Pool since 2016 (of 333 with a page). Number 52 in Congo - Brazzaville in 2026, of 360.
The power measured by the satellite is low (21.8 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 2,485ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 18 Jul 2026 – 23 Jul 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 18 Jul
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 11
- in a single hotspot: 22 MW
- Danger at start
- 17
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 79MW
- 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 57 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 306 ha in 2016, 516 ha in 2020, 619 ha in 2021, 1,581 ha in 2024, 1,623 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,890 ha that had burned before.
- 1,623 ha Epéna fire, August 2025 3,266 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 751 ha Epéna fire, July 2024 1,136 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 671 ha Epéna fire, July 2024 1,013 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 619 ha Epéna fire, August 2021 1,298 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 516 ha Epéna fire, August 2020 1,613 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 306 ha Epéna fire, July 2016 1,030 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 159 ha Epéna fire, July 2024 1,788 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Epéna where it started2,502 ha reached on 21 Jul0.8 %
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 Jul | 27.3 °C | 58 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 19 Jul | 28.2 °C | 59 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 20 Jul | 26.9 °C | 65 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 21 Jul | 31.0 °C | 59 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 22 Jul | 30.1 °C | 57 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 23 Jul | 30.4 °C | 53 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 24 Jul after | 27.8 °C | 63 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 25 Jul after | 28.1 °C | 60 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 26 Jul after | 28.8 °C | 56 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 27 Jul after | 25.9 °C | 67 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 28 Jul after | 26.4 °C | 63 % | 33 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 29 Jul after | 28.6 °C | 57 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 30 Jul after | 27.7 °C | 64 % | 23 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 31 Jul after | 30.1 °C | 57 % | 16 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 1 Aug after | 29.4 °C | 56 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 2 Aug after | 26.5 °C | 63 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 23 July 2026 the air beside the fire reached 108 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 56: 3.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 11Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Epéna fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 July 2026 and 23 July 2026: 6 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 2,485 hectares (24.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Epéna (2,502 ha, 0.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 31.0 °C, humidity dropped to 53 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 18, class Moderate.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Congo - Brazzaville (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 (Public Domain). 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.