Kahenge fire, September 2017 Kahenge
The fire started on 15 September 2017 in Kahenge, Namibia, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,298 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 78th largest in Kavango West since 2016 (of 152 with a page). Number 45 in Namibia in 2017, of 123.
- Burnt area
- 3,298ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 15 Sept 2017 – 17 Sept 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- constituencies
- Started on
- 15 Sept
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 106
- in a single hotspot: 80 MW
- Danger at start
- 67
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 856MW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
68% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,239 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Kahenge where it started3,310 ha reached on 15 Sept0.4 %
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 Sept | 35.7 °C | 10 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 16 Sept | 36.8 °C | 7 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 17 Sept | 36.8 °C | 8 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 18 Sept after | 36.8 °C | 8 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 19 Sept after | 36.5 °C | 11 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 20 Sept after | 36.2 °C | 12 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 21 Sept after | 35.5 °C | 15 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 22 Sept after | 35.5 °C | 15 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 23 Sept after | 36.0 °C | 13 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 24 Sept after | 36.9 °C | 10 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 25 Sept after | 37.5 °C | 8 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 26 Sept after | 36.3 °C | 11 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 27 Sept after | 34.8 °C | 12 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
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 · 106Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 9,649 haKahenge15 September 2016 · 7 days · 2 km away
- 8,655 haKahengeAugust 2025 · 10 days · 8 km away
- 9,885 haKahenge19 September 2020 · 14 days · 21 km away
- 9,223 haMpungu25 August 2026 · 28 days · 30 km away
- 5,938 haCuangar3 September 2026 · 6 days · 36 km away
- 13,507 haMpunguAugust 2018 · 22 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kahenge fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 September 2017 and 17 September 2017: 3 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 3,298 hectares (33.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Kahenge (3,310 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 67, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Namibia (OCHA COD-AB). 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 OCHA COD-AB (Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA)) (Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-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.