Burned area
satellite only3,884ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- 14 Aug 2017 – 30 Aug 2017
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
ZM · Zambia · –
Kapiri Mposhi fire, August 2017 Kapiri Mposhi
Out · last detection 30 Aug 2017, 12:03 UTC
The fire started on 14 August 2017 in Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,884 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 170th largest in Central since 2016 (of 264 with a page). Number 143 in Zambia in 2017, of 230.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-26matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only17days
14 Aug 2017 to 30 Aug 2017: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 30 Aug 2017, 12:03 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only14 Aug 2017
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 14 Aug 2017
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only166
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 47 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 14 Aug 2017 – 30 Aug 2017
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only626MW
Total radiative power on 23 August 2017; hotspots that day: 50.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 23 Aug 2017
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model44.0FWI · very high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 60.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 14 Aug 2017, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model30.9°C · 16% RH
High of 30.9 °C and minimum humidity of 16% on 25 August 2017; gusts of 53 km/h on 20 August 2017.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 14 Aug 2017 – 30 Aug 2017
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
Living inside
model≈ 450people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 4.7 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2015).
- Source
- GHSL R2023A · JRC
- Date
- calculated on 24 October 2026
+− cross-check
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
logLast day with fire: 24 August 2017 → 30 August 2017.
-
logStart date: 20 August 2017 → 14 August 2017.
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
What was saved on 26 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 3,884 ha
- Dates
- 14 Aug 2017 – 30 Aug 2017
- Name
- Kapiri Mposhi
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/kapiri-mposhi-2017-08?v=2026-10-26A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire kapiri-mposhi-2017-08.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-08-14 | 4 | 118 | 25.6 | 15 | 33 | 18.4 | 43.6 | 0 | 44 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-15 | 4 | 19 | 26.2 | 14.5 | 32 | 18.2 | 43.2 | 0 | 42.1 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-16 | 1 | 3 | 28.1 | 14 | 25 | 11.5 | 29.9 | 0 | 33.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-17 | 9 | 43 | 29.6 | 13.4 | 22 | 10.9 | 26.6 | 0 | 33.6 | alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-18 | 10 | 71 | 29.8 | 17.1 | 25 | 15.6 | 31.3 | 0 | 38.7 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-19 | 0 | 0 | 26.9 | 16.6 | 37 | 21.1 | 47.9 | 0 | 51.5 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-08-20 | 7 | 54 | 25.1 | 12.8 | 38 | 25.3 | 53.3 | 0 | 42.9 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-21 | 6 | 33 | 24.9 | 12.4 | 35 | 18.4 | 43.6 | 0 | 40.5 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-22 | 17 | 271 | 26.8 | 12.1 | 24 | 14.3 | 31 | 0 | 33.2 | alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-23 | 50 | 626 | 29.8 | 10.7 | 13 | 13.1 | 25.2 | 0 | 44.6 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-24 | 54 | 610 | 30.6 | 13.2 | 15 | 13.9 | 31.3 | 0 | 49.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-25 | 0 | 0 | 30.9 | 15.6 | 16 | 16.5 | 38.5 | 0 | 53.7 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-08-26 | 0 | 0 | 29.5 | 17.4 | 22 | 22.4 | 51.1 | 0 | 67.2 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-08-27 | 0 | 0 | 28.4 | 15.5 | 23 | 18 | 41.8 | 0 | 56.7 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-08-28 | 2 | 13 | 27.1 | 14.1 | 27 | 18.2 | 43.6 | 0 | 55.9 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-08-29 | 0 | 0 | 25.3 | 13.1 | 26 | 16.8 | 41 | 0 | 52.5 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-08-30 | 2 | 18 | 28.2 | 12.1 | 20 | 14.5 | 33.1 | 0 | 44.4 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-31 | 0 | 0 | 28.8 | 12 | 18 | 16.8 | 41 | 0 | 57 | extremo | 0 |
| 2017-09-01 | 0 | 0 | 28.8 | 13.3 | 12 | 14.5 | 34.6 | 0 | 58 | extremo | 0 |
| 2017-09-02 | 0 | 0 | 27.4 | 12.5 | 22 | 19.9 | 46.8 | 0 | 66.6 | extremo | 0 |
| 2017-09-03 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 14.3 | 32 | 19 | 44.6 | 0 | 52.3 | extremo | 0 |
| 2017-09-04 | 0 | 0 | 25.7 | 13.7 | 33 | 22.4 | 50.8 | 0 | 51.9 | extremo | 0 |
| 2017-09-05 | 0 | 0 | 27.7 | 13.1 | 30 | 16.4 | 36.4 | 0 | 38 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2017-09-06 | 0 | 0 | 29.2 | 14.2 | 29 | 15.3 | 34.6 | 0 | 36 | alto | 0 |
| 2017-09-07 | 0 | 0 | 29.3 | 14.8 | 21 | 16.6 | 40.3 | 0 | 50.4 | extremo | 0 |
| 2017-09-08 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 15.8 | 20 | 17.3 | 42.5 | 0 | 58.5 | extremo | 0 |
| 2017-09-09 | 0 | 0 | 30.5 | 17.5 | 22 | 17.7 | 42.5 | 0 | 53.4 | extremo | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: GWIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 3,884ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 17days
- 14 Aug 2017 – 30 Aug 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 14 Aug
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 166
- in a single hotspot: 47 MW
- Danger at start
- 44
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 156MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
14 Aug30 Aug
30 Aug 2017
How it evolved, day by day
14 Aug
17 Aug
23 Aug
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
31°high
53km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
11% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 408 ha in 2016.
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Kapiri Mposhi where it started3,905 ha reached on 14 Aug0.4 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2015Built-up area4.7 ha
Residents≈ 450
Inside the perimeter there were about 4.7 hectares of built-up land and about 450 residents (GHSL 2015, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu
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)
Started with 60 days without rain: 91 % of the area in Zambia
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Aug | 25.6 °C | 33 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 15 Aug | 26.2 °C | 32 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 16 Aug | 28.1 °C | 25 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 17 Aug | 29.6 °C | 22 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 18 Aug | 29.8 °C | 25 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 19 Aug | 26.9 °C | 37 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 20 Aug | 25.1 °C | 38 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 21 Aug | 24.9 °C | 35 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 22 Aug | 26.8 °C | 24 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 23 Aug | 29.8 °C | 13 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 24 Aug | 30.6 °C | 15 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 25 Aug | 30.9 °C | 16 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 26 Aug | 29.5 °C | 22 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 27 Aug | 28.4 °C | 23 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 28 Aug | 27.1 °C | 27 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 29 Aug | 25.3 °C | 26 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 30 Aug | 28.2 °C | 20 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 31 Aug after | 28.8 °C | 18 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 1 Sept after | 28.8 °C | 12 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 2 Sept after | 27.4 °C | 22 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 3 Sept after | 27.0 °C | 32 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 4 Sept after | 25.7 °C | 33 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 5 Sept after | 27.7 °C | 30 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 6 Sept after | 29.2 °C | 29 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 7 Sept after | 29.3 °C | 21 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 8 Sept after | 30.0 °C | 20 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 9 Sept after | 30.5 °C | 22 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 44.0, a minimum humidity of 33% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 38.
FWI at the start
44.0
Minimum humidity
33 %
Days without rain
60+
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Kapiri Mposhi fire, August 2017
3,884 ha
17 days
FWI 44.0
Min. humidity 33 %
Lufwanyama fire, July 2022
5,252 ha
19 days
FWI 39.2
Min. humidity 33 %
158 km away, in 2022
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Mumbwa fire, June 2021
3,012 ha
5 days
FWI 40.5
Min. humidity 33 %
170 km away, in 2021
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Kafue fire, September 2018
31,689 ha
19 days
FWI 48.1
Min. humidity 33 %
215 km away, in 2018
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Serenje fire, July 2016
3,241 ha
13 days
FWI 44.7
Min. humidity 30 %
248 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Mumbwa fire, July 2019
3,860 ha
8 days
FWI 43.8
Min. humidity 29 %
244 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
What happened to them
- 10 days
- median duration
- 3,940 ha
- median area
- 3 %
- went past 10,000 ha
- 1.2 mm
- rain at the end (median; 1 of 38 had it)
It burned an area similar to its twins (3,884 ha against a median of 3,940 ha) and lasted 17 days, against 10 days.
In 37 of 38, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.2 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
—first rain
—no rain in ten days
53km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 30 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 1 of 38, with a median of 1.2 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
- Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
- Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
- Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
- Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
- They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 7 Aug 2017
After · 6 Sept 2017
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 · 166Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV
Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kapiri Mposhi fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 14 August 2017 to 30 August 2017 (17 days). The perimeter dates it from 20 August 2017 to 24 August 2017.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,884 hectares (38.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Kapiri Mposhi (3,905 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.9 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 53 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 Zambia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
- How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
- Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 38. Their median duration was 10 days and their median area 3,940 ha; 3 % went past 10,000 ha. In 37 of 38, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.2 mm.
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
History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
- Last day with fire: 24 August 2017 → 30 August 2017.
- Start date: 20 August 2017 → 14 August 2017.
RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 20 August 2017 to 24 August 2017. 166 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
- Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2015, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.