Kafue fire, October 2019 Kafue, Rufunsa
The fire started on 24 October 2019 in Kafue, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,289 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 38th largest in Lusaka since 2016 (of 78 with a page). Number 130 in Zambia in 2019, of 243.
- Burnt area
- 4,289ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 24 Oct 2019 – 29 Oct 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 24 Oct
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 153
- in a single hotspot: 76 MW
- Danger at start
- 52
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.3GW
- 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 27 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
71% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,104 ha in 2016, 2,900 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,045 ha that had burned before.
- 2,799 ha Kafue fire, September 2018 32,071 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,911 ha Rufunsa fire, September 2016 15,943 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 101 ha Rufunsa fire, October 2018 3,893 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Kafue where it started4,239 ha reached on 24 Oct0.9 %
-
73 ha reached on 28 Oct0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Oct | 37.4 °C | 19 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 25 Oct | 36.4 °C | 18 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 26 Oct | 37.0 °C | 16 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 27 Oct | 37.5 °C | 15 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 28 Oct | 38.3 °C | 12 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 29 Oct | 38.7 °C | 12 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 30 Oct after | 36.4 °C | 16 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 31 Oct after | 34.4 °C | 18 % | 64 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 1 Nov after | 33.0 °C | 24 % | 65 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 2 Nov after | 31.7 °C | 28 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 3 Nov after | 33.8 °C | 22 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 4 Nov after | 34.7 °C | 22 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 5 Nov after | 32.0 °C | 25 % | 58 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 6 Nov after | 32.3 °C | 26 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 7 Nov after | 34.5 °C | 26 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 8 Nov after | 36.3 °C | 20 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
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 · 153Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 14,407 haKafueOctober 2022 · 18 days · 3 km away
- 32,071 haKafueSeptember 2018 · 17 days · 17 km away
- 15,943 haRufunsa1 September 2016 · 32 days · 19 km away
- 15,689 haLuangwaOctober 2021 · 24 days · 32 km away
- 11,002 haRufunsaSeptember 2019 · 17 days · 33 km away
- 23,797 haRufunsaSeptember 2018 · 28 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kafue fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 24 October 2019 and 29 October 2019: 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 4,289 hectares (42.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kafue (4,239 ha, 0.9 %); Rufunsa (73 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.7 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 56, 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.
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 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.