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CD · Congo - Kinshasa · →

Kasenga fire, 17 July 2026 Kasenga, Pweto

Out · last detection 3 Sept 2026, 12:10 UTC

The fire started on 17 July 2026 in Kasenga, Congo - Kinshasa, and satellites saw it burning for 49 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 42,443 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

It is the largest fire in Haut-Katanga since 2016 (of 94 with a page). Number 24 in Congo - Kinshasa in 2026, of 523.

Burnt area
42,443ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
49days
17 Jul 2026 – 3 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit
2
territories
Started on
17 Jul
2026
Heat detections
1,604
in a single hotspot: 150 MW
Danger at start
30
High · FWI index
Energy released
15.5GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

3 Sept 2026
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Jul3 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

1718192021222324252627282930311256789101112131415161719202122232425262728293031123

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

33°high
36km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

70% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 10,736 ha in 2016, 4,274 ha in 2017, 5,961 ha in 2018, 9,615 ha in 2019, 3,058 ha in 2020, 6,446 ha in 2021, 8,343 ha in 2022, 7,215 ha in 2023, 5,913 ha in 2024, 7,778 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 29,887 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Kasenga where it started
    42,552 ha reached on 17 Jul
    1.8 %
  2. Pweto
    92 ha reached on 21 Jul
    0.0 %

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)
17 Jul 26.1 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
18 Jul 26.3 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
19 Jul 27.6 °C 28 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
20 Jul 28.2 °C 30 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
21 Jul 29.6 °C 29 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
22 Jul 29.3 °C 34 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Jul 29.4 °C 43 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
24 Jul 29.0 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
25 Jul 29.2 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Jul 28.0 °C 37 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Jul 27.2 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
28 Jul 28.5 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
29 Jul 29.3 °C 34 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
30 Jul 28.7 °C 35 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
31 Jul 28.8 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
1 Aug 26.8 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
2 Aug 26.7 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Aug 26.8 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
4 Aug 27.7 °C 36 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
5 Aug 28.1 °C 36 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
6 Aug 28.5 °C 40 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
7 Aug 29.1 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
8 Aug 29.8 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
9 Aug 29.6 °C 37 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
10 Aug 31.4 °C 29 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Aug 31.4 °C 29 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
12 Aug 31.5 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Aug 29.9 °C 33 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
14 Aug 27.8 °C 41 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
15 Aug 27.6 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
16 Aug 27.7 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
17 Aug 28.6 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Aug 29.3 °C 24 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
19 Aug 29.1 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
20 Aug 28.9 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
21 Aug 29.2 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
22 Aug 30.2 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
23 Aug 30.9 °C 29 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
24 Aug 31.7 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Aug 30.8 °C 37 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
26 Aug 31.6 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Aug 31.9 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Aug 30.0 °C 38 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
29 Aug 30.0 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
30 Aug 31.2 °C 31 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
31 Aug 31.9 °C 29 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
1 Sept 32.0 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
2 Sept 32.3 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Sept 32.6 °C 29 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
4 Sept after 33.1 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
5 Sept after 31.5 °C 37 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
6 Sept after 30.7 °C 40 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
7 Sept after 32.9 °C 30 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
8 Sept after 31.5 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
9 Sept after 30.6 °C 33 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
10 Sept after 30.4 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
11 Sept after 32.0 °C 32 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Sept after 33.2 °C 28 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
13 Sept after 33.4 °C 28 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 32

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 10 Jul 2026
After · 10 Sept 2026

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 · Copernicus

On 21 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 99 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 76: 5.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak99 µg/m³
Days over the guideline54 days
PM10103 µg/m³
Optical depth2.02
151617181920212223242526272829303112345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031123456
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 1,604Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Congo - Kinshasa ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kasenga fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 July 2026 to 3 September 2026 (49 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 July 2026 to 31 August 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 42,443 hectares (424.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kasenga (42,552 ha, 1.8 %); Pweto (92 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.6 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very 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.

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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.