Feshi fire, 18 May 2024 Feshi, Masi-Manimba
The fire started on 18 May 2024 in Feshi, Congo - Kinshasa, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,406 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 168th largest in Kwango since 2016 (of 219 with a page). Number 117 in Congo - Kinshasa in 2024, of 133.
- Burnt area
- 5,406ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 18 May 2024 – 24 May 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- territories
- Started on
- 18 May
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 151
- in a single hotspot: 139 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.0GW
- 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 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
97% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,172 ha in 2016, 1,633 ha in 2017, 1,787 ha in 2018, 2,480 ha in 2019, 1,908 ha in 2020, 3,578 ha in 2021, 3,423 ha in 2022, 908 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,263 ha that had burned before.
- 3,375 ha Masi-Manimba fire, June 2022 7,726 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,222 ha Masi-Manimba fire, May 2021 5,382 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,517 ha Feshi fire, June 2016 5,321 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 73 ha Feshi fire, June 2019 6,781 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Feshi where it started3,625 ha reached on 17 May0.2 %
-
1,815 ha reached on 17 May0.1 %
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 May | 32.7 °C | 31 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 19 May | 34.1 °C | 28 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 20 May | 32.9 °C | 32 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 21 May | 32.7 °C | 31 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 22 May | 33.0 °C | 37 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 23 May | 32.7 °C | 35 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 24 May | 31.2 °C | 42 % | 31 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 22 |
| 25 May after | 32.7 °C | 40 % | 35 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 22 |
| 26 May after | 31.7 °C | 42 % | 31 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 27 May after | 29.7 °C | 52 % | 31 km/h | 0.7 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 28 May after | 32.9 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 29 May after | 33.8 °C | 28 % | 15 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 30 May after | 33.6 °C | 29 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 31 May after | 31.8 °C | 36 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 1 Jun after | 31.9 °C | 42 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 2 Jun after | 31.4 °C | 47 % | 20 km/h | 0.7 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 3 Jun after | 31.8 °C | 45 % | 28 km/h | 0.4 mm | Moderate 20 |
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 20 May 2024 the air beside the fire reached 108 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 68: 4.5 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 · 151Every 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 Feshi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 May 2024 and 24 May 2024: 7 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 5,406 hectares (54.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Feshi (3,625 ha, 0.2 %); Masi-Manimba (1,815 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.1 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, class High.
- 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.