Kasongo-Lunda fire, 23 August 2017 Kasongo-Lunda
The fire started on 23 August 2017 in Kasongo-Lunda, Congo - Kinshasa, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,963 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 37th largest in Kwango since 2016 (of 219 with a page). Number 13 in Congo - Kinshasa in 2017, of 138.
- Burnt area
- 11,963ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 10days
- 23 Aug 2017 – 1 Sept 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- territories
- Started on
- 23 Aug
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 424
- in a single hotspot: 51 MW
- Danger at start
- 22
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.5GW
- 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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.7 mm on 11 Sept.
This area had burned before
67% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 9,989 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 8,026 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Kasongo-Lunda where it started12,029 ha reached on 23 Aug0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Aug | 31.3 °C | 40 % | 27 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 22 |
| 24 Aug | 34.3 °C | 35 % | 23 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 25 |
| 25 Aug | 33.9 °C | 30 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 26 Aug | 31.8 °C | 32 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 27 Aug | 31.6 °C | 39 % | 31 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 28 |
| 28 Aug | 34.1 °C | 36 % | 26 km/h | 1.7 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 29 Aug | 33.6 °C | 31 % | 29 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 29 |
| 30 Aug | 34.1 °C | 28 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 31 Aug | 33.7 °C | 32 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 1 Sept | 34.9 °C | 30 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 2 Sept after | 32.9 °C | 35 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 3 Sept after | 32.4 °C | 30 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 4 Sept after | 32.3 °C | 31 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 5 Sept after | 33.2 °C | 36 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 6 Sept after | 34.1 °C | 39 % | 23 km/h | 3.6 mm | Low 9 |
| 7 Sept after | 30.5 °C | 49 % | 23 km/h | 7.0 mm | Very low 3 |
| 8 Sept after | 30.7 °C | 53 % | 30 km/h | 0.2 mm | Low 9 |
| 9 Sept after | 34.5 °C | 40 % | 26 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 10 Sept after | 34.3 °C | 35 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 11 Sept after | 35.1 °C | 40 % | 24 km/h | 2.7 mm | Low 9 |
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 · 424Every 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 Kasongo-Lunda fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 August 2017 and 1 September 2017: 10 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 11,963 hectares (119.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Kasongo-Lunda (12,029 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.9 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, 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.