Katako-Kombe fire, 22 May 2026 Katako-Kombe, Lodja
The fire started on 22 May 2026 in Katako-Kombe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and satellites saw it burning for 53 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 110,467 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.
Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:
- 152,539 haLodja2 June 2026 · 42 days
- 108,174 haKatako-Kombe5 June 2026 · 39 days
- 24,267 haKatako-Kombe2 June 2026 · 39 days
- 20,023 haKatako-Kombe2 June 2026 · 39 days
- 6,799 haKatako-Kombe13 June 2026 · 24 days
- 6,619 haKatako-Kombe17 June 2026 · 24 days
- 6,137 haKatako-Kombe11 June 2026 · 30 days
- 5,284 haKatako-Kombe8 June 2026 · 31 days
It is the 5th largest in Sankuru since 2016 (of 187 with a page). Number 7 in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2026, of 523.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 110,467ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 53days
- 22 May 2026 – 13 Jul 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- territories
- Started on
- 22 May
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 5,347
- in a single hotspot: 290 MW
- Danger at start
- 0
- Very low · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 1.3GW
- detected power per day, on average
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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.9 mm on 15 Jul.
This area had burned before
92% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 50,403 ha in 2016, 47,298 ha in 2017, 70,950 ha in 2018, 46,682 ha in 2019, 76,986 ha in 2020, 43,666 ha in 2021, 56,749 ha in 2022, 40,869 ha in 2023, 73,862 ha in 2024, 35,686 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 102,153 ha that had burned before.
- 19,996 ha Lodja fire, May 2018 23,308 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 13,642 ha Katako-Kombe fire, June 2024 16,220 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10,517 ha Katako-Kombe fire, May 2017 9,736 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 8,748 ha Lodja fire, June 2021 9,491 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 8,313 ha Katako-Kombe fire, June 2020 10,335 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 8,158 ha Lodja fire, June 2016 7,411 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,755 ha Lodja fire, June 2020 42,241 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,873 ha Katako-Kombe fire, May 2016 7,007 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 started75,877 ha reached on 22 May3.2 %
-
35,327 ha reached on 25 May2.8 %
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 2025Inside the perimeter there were about 81 hectares of built-up land and about 2,100 residents (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 May | 30.2 °C | 60 % | 30 km/h | 7.6 mm | Very low 0 |
| 23 May | 30.6 °C | 60 % | 32 km/h | 2.5 mm | Very low 0 |
| 24 May | 31.5 °C | 55 % | 39 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very low 1 |
| 25 May | 33.4 °C | 39 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 6 |
| 26 May | 33.2 °C | 36 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 8 |
| 27 May | 33.0 °C | 34 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 28 May | 32.8 °C | 35 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 29 May | 32.9 °C | 36 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 30 May | 32.1 °C | 40 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 31 May | 33.1 °C | 31 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 1 Jun | 32.5 °C | 39 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 2 Jun | 32.9 °C | 42 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 3 Jun | 32.9 °C | 39 % | 33 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 4 Jun | 31.6 °C | 45 % | 17 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 5 Jun | 32.0 °C | 45 % | 23 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 6 Jun | 31.7 °C | 47 % | 22 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 7 Jun | 32.2 °C | 49 % | 30 km/h | 4.0 mm | Very low 2 |
| 8 Jun | 30.6 °C | 56 % | 34 km/h | 0.6 mm | Low 5 |
| 9 Jun | 30.5 °C | 57 % | 32 km/h | 0.3 mm | Low 8 |
| 10 Jun | 31.6 °C | 50 % | 31 km/h | 0.1 mm | Low 10 |
| 11 Jun | 31.2 °C | 51 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 12 Jun | 31.7 °C | 40 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 13 Jun | 32.9 °C | 35 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 14 Jun | 33.7 °C | 30 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 15 Jun | 31.7 °C | 37 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 16 Jun | 29.3 °C | 58 % | 24 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 17 Jun | 31.8 °C | 42 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 18 Jun | 32.2 °C | 37 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 19 Jun | 31.5 °C | 42 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 20 Jun | 33.1 °C | 39 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 21 Jun | 34.3 °C | 26 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 22 Jun | 33.1 °C | 26 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 23 Jun | 31.9 °C | 34 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 24 Jun | 32.1 °C | 32 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 25 Jun | 33.7 °C | 27 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 26 Jun | 33.2 °C | 30 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 27 Jun | 33.9 °C | 24 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Jun | 33.2 °C | 30 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 29 Jun | 33.0 °C | 27 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 30 Jun | 34.7 °C | 22 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 1 Jul | 33.4 °C | 29 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 2 Jul | 32.8 °C | 36 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 3 Jul | 34.4 °C | 31 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 4 Jul | 34.1 °C | 28 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 5 Jul | 35.0 °C | 20 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 6 Jul | 35.4 °C | 20 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 7 Jul | 33.6 °C | 25 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 8 Jul | 33.9 °C | 29 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 9 Jul | 33.1 °C | 35 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 10 Jul | 33.7 °C | 33 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 11 Jul | 32.7 °C | 40 % | 22 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 28 |
| 12 Jul | 33.7 °C | 34 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 13 Jul | 34.8 °C | 31 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 14 Jul after | 33.5 °C | 39 % | 24 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 24 |
| 15 Jul after | 28.6 °C | 60 % | 24 km/h | 4.9 mm | Very low 4 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 9 July 2026 the air beside the fire reached 499 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 257: 17 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 5,347Every 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 Katako-Kombe fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 May 2026 to 13 July 2026 (53 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 May 2026 to 13 July 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 110,467 hectares (1,104.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Katako-Kombe (75,877 ha, 3.2 %); Lodja (35,327 ha, 2.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.4 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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.
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: 23 May 2026 → 22 May 2026.
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; 10 polygons grouped in this page.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 23 May 2026 to 13 July 2026. 5,347 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 2025, 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.