Burned area
satellite only17,070ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- 12 Jun 2020 – 30 Jun 2020
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
CD · Democratic Republic of the Congo · –
Katako-Kombe fire, 12 June 2020 Katako-Kombe
Out · last detection 30 Jun 2020, 11:59 UTC
The fire started on 12 June 2020 in Katako-Kombe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and satellites saw it burning for 19 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 17,070 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 30th largest in Sankuru since 2016 (of 156 with a page). Number 21 in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2020, of 165.
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 only19days
12 Jun 2020 to 30 Jun 2020: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 30 Jun 2020, 11:59 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 only12 Jun 2020
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 12 Jun 2020
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only731
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 116 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 12 Jun 2020 – 30 Jun 2020
+− 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 only4,731MW
Total radiative power on 20 June 2020; hotspots that day: 314.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 20 Jun 2020
+− 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
model10.8FWI · low
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 1.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 12 Jun 2020, 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
model34.0°C · 31% RH
High of 34.0 °C and minimum humidity of 31% on 24 June 2020; gusts of 36 km/h on 17 June 2020.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 12 Jun 2020 – 30 Jun 2020
- 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≈ 150people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 7.0 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2020).
- 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
-
logStart date: 17 June 2020 → 12 June 2020.
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
· 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
- 17,070 ha
- Dates
- 12 Jun 2020 – 30 Jun 2020
- Name
- Katako-Kombe
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/katako-kombe-2020-06-2?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 katako-kombe-2020-06-2.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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-06-12 | 4 | 36 | 31.3 | 21.9 | 49 | 8.8 | 27 | 0 | 10.8 | bajo | 1 |
| 2020-06-13 | 0 | 0 | 31.4 | 21.9 | 49 | 9.1 | 23 | 0.4 | 11.9 | moderado | 1 |
| 2020-06-14 | 0 | 0 | 32.1 | 21.4 | 42 | 9.4 | 28.4 | 0 | 14.2 | moderado | 1 |
| 2020-06-15 | 1 | 15 | 32.3 | 21.5 | 28 | 11.8 | 31.7 | 0 | 20.4 | moderado | 1 |
| 2020-06-16 | 0 | 0 | 32.3 | 19.7 | 31 | 12.3 | 34.2 | 0 | 21.2 | moderado | 1 |
| 2020-06-17 | 10 | 85 | 33.1 | 19.9 | 22 | 13.8 | 36.4 | 0 | 26.2 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-06-18 | 25 | 176 | 32.5 | 18.9 | 25 | 12.3 | 32.4 | 0 | 25.9 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-06-19 | 17 | 172 | 32.8 | 19.1 | 31 | 10 | 29.2 | 0 | 24.7 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-06-20 | 314 | 4,731 | 31.7 | 21.9 | 40 | 9.8 | 21.2 | 0 | 21.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-06-21 | 95 | 1,149 | 32.1 | 22.4 | 40 | 9.3 | 28.1 | 0 | 21.1 | moderado | 1 |
| 2020-06-22 | 85 | 1,298 | 31.1 | 22.6 | 47 | 9 | 20.5 | 0 | 18.8 | moderado | 1 |
| 2020-06-23 | 11 | 63 | 31.3 | 23.1 | 43 | 9.4 | 21.2 | 0.2 | 19.4 | moderado | 1 |
| 2020-06-24 | 61 | 505 | 34 | 21.1 | 31 | 7.3 | 31.7 | 0 | 21.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-06-25 | 44 | 422 | 32 | 21.7 | 41 | 10.9 | 20.5 | 0 | 23 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-06-26 | 0 | 0 | 31.4 | 22.2 | 47 | 11.7 | 23 | 0 | 21.5 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-06-27 | 53 | 481 | 31.9 | 22.4 | 49 | 8.7 | 22.7 | 0.4 | 19.3 | moderado | 1 |
| 2020-06-28 | 0 | 0 | 33.4 | 22.5 | 43 | 7.3 | 30.2 | 0.5 | 19 | moderado | 1 |
| 2020-06-29 | 8 | 79 | 33.5 | 22.6 | 38 | 10.2 | 28.1 | 0 | 21.7 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-06-30 | 3 | 47 | 32.6 | 23.2 | 37 | 13 | 29.5 | 0 | 23.9 | alto | 1 |
| 2020-07-01 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 22.3 | 62 | 10 | 25.2 | 0 | 16.3 | moderado | 0 |
| 2020-07-02 | 0 | 0 | 31.3 | 21.6 | 49 | 8 | 28.1 | 0 | 16.5 | moderado | 0 |
| 2020-07-03 | 0 | 0 | 34.3 | 22.1 | 26 | 13.7 | 34.9 | 0 | 30.2 | alto | 0 |
| 2020-07-04 | 0 | 0 | 34.7 | 20.7 | 24 | 11.1 | 30.2 | 0 | 31 | alto | 0 |
| 2020-07-05 | 0 | 0 | 33.1 | 21.8 | 27 | 10.5 | 27.4 | 0 | 31.1 | alto | 0 |
| 2020-07-06 | 0 | 0 | 29.4 | 22.1 | 52 | 10.9 | 28.4 | 0.3 | 21.9 | alto | 0 |
| 2020-07-07 | 0 | 0 | 31.7 | 22.1 | 47 | 8.3 | 24.8 | 0 | 20.7 | moderado | 0 |
| 2020-07-08 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 22.5 | 47 | 8 | 24.8 | 0 | 20.8 | moderado | 0 |
| 2020-07-09 | 0 | 0 | 32.9 | 22.1 | 37 | 10.5 | 28.1 | 0 | 24.3 | alto | 0 |
| 2020-07-10 | 0 | 0 | 31.9 | 21.5 | 38 | 10.5 | 29.9 | 0 | 24.6 | alto | 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
- 17,070ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 19days
- 12 Jun 2020 – 30 Jun 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- territories
- Started on
- 12 Jun
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 731
- in a single hotspot: 116 MW
- Danger at start
- 11
- Low · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 661MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
12 Jun30 Jun
30 Jun 2020
How it evolved, day by day
12 Jun
20 Jun
24 Jun
29 Jun
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
34°high
36km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity
It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
78% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,276 ha in 2016, 7,333 ha in 2017, 12,204 ha in 2018, 6,197 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 13,335 ha that had burned before.
- 9,416 ha Katako-Kombe fire, May 2018 19,353 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,299 ha Katako-Kombe fire, June 2019 6,310 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 206 ha Katako-Kombe fire, June 2016 5,218 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
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
-
Katako-Kombe where it started17,184 ha reached on 12 Jun0.7 %
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 2020Built-up area7.0 ha
Residents≈ 150
Inside the perimeter there were about 7.0 hectares of built-up land and about 150 residents (GHSL 2020, 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)
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Jun | 31.3 °C | 49 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 13 Jun | 31.4 °C | 49 % | 23 km/h | 0.4 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 14 Jun | 32.1 °C | 42 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 15 Jun | 32.3 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 16 Jun | 32.3 °C | 31 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 17 Jun | 33.1 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 18 Jun | 32.5 °C | 25 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 19 Jun | 32.8 °C | 31 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 20 Jun | 31.7 °C | 40 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 21 Jun | 32.1 °C | 40 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 22 Jun | 31.1 °C | 47 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 23 Jun | 31.3 °C | 43 % | 21 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 24 Jun | 34.0 °C | 31 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 25 Jun | 32.0 °C | 41 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 26 Jun | 31.4 °C | 47 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 27 Jun | 31.9 °C | 49 % | 23 km/h | 0.4 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 28 Jun | 33.4 °C | 43 % | 30 km/h | 0.5 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 29 Jun | 33.5 °C | 38 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 30 Jun | 32.6 °C | 37 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 1 Jul after | 29.0 °C | 62 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 2 Jul after | 31.3 °C | 49 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 3 Jul after | 34.3 °C | 26 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 4 Jul after | 34.7 °C | 24 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 5 Jul after | 33.1 °C | 27 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 6 Jul after | 29.4 °C | 52 % | 28 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 22 |
| 7 Jul after | 31.7 °C | 47 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 8 Jul after | 32.0 °C | 47 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 9 Jul after | 32.9 °C | 37 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 10 Jul after | 31.9 °C | 38 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 10.8, a minimum humidity of 49% and 1 day without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 27.
FWI at the start
10.8
Minimum humidity
49 %
Days without rain
1
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Katako-Kombe fire, 12 June 2020
17,070 ha
19 days
FWI 10.8
Min. humidity 49 %
Katako-Kombe fire, June 2016
5,218 ha
20 days
FWI 11.9
Min. humidity 50 %
16 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Lodja fire, June 2016
7,411 ha
18 days
FWI 9.2
Min. humidity 50 %
56 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Lodja fire, July 2018
85,816 ha
16 days
FWI 10.8
Min. humidity 47 %
79 km away, in 2018
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.5 mm on 27 Jul.
Katako-Kombe fire, June 2018
10,502 ha
31 days
FWI 8.9
Min. humidity 48 %
78 km away, in 2018
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 10.3 mm on 1 Aug.
Lodja fire, June 2016
6,515 ha
5 days
FWI 9.0
Min. humidity 50 %
125 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
What happened to them
- 18 days
- median duration
- 9,437 ha
- median area
- 37 %
- went past 10,000 ha
- 2.4 mm
- rain at the end (median; 20 of 27 had it)
It was 1.8 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 19 days, against 18 days.
Only 4 of its 27 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 7 of 27, 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 2.4 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
36km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 30 Jun, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 20 of 27, with a median of 2.4 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 · 5 Jun 2020
After · 7 Jul 2020
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 · 731Every 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 Katako-Kombe fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 12 June 2020 to 30 June 2020 (19 days). The perimeter dates it from 17 June 2020 to 30 June 2020.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 17,070 hectares (170.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Katako-Kombe (17,184 ha, 0.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.0 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Democratic Republic of the Congo (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: 27. Their median duration was 18 days and their median area 9,437 ha; 37 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 4 of its 27 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 7 of 27, 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 2.4 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 · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
- Start date: 17 June 2020 → 12 June 2020.
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 17 June 2020 to 30 June 2020. 731 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 2020, 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 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.