The fire started on 23 August 2017 in Kawambwa, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 34 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 97,359 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 10th largest in Luapula since 2016 (of 449 with a page). Number 2 in Zambia in 2017, of 230.
Union of 9 GWIS (Copernicus) perimeters: overlapping areas count once.
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
23 Aug 2017 to 25 Sept 2017: first and last day with fire on the page.
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.
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 182 MW.
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
Total radiative power on 2 September 2017; hotspots that day: 454.
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 60.
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
High of 32.5 °C and minimum humidity of 16% on 18 September 2017; gusts of 50 km/h on 4 September 2017.
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.
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 83 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2015).
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.
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
A 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.
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-08-23 | 23 | 284 | 30.5 | 13.8 | 21 | 14.8 | 32 | 0 | 38 | alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-24 | 39 | 291 | 31 | 15.8 | 16 | 14.7 | 30.2 | 0 | 47.2 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-25 | 70 | 1,405 | 30.9 | 16.3 | 14 | 14.9 | 38.2 | 0 | 54.8 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-08-26 | 77 | 688 | 29.5 | 16.4 | 19 | 17.8 | 45 | 0 | 63.6 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-08-27 | 63 | 698 | 29.3 | 16.6 | 23 | 18.2 | 44.3 | 0 | 51.2 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-08-28 | 80 | 1,430 | 29 | 16 | 17 | 18.8 | 45.7 | 0 | 56 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-08-29 | 218 | 3,493 | 27.1 | 15.4 | 23 | 19.4 | 47.5 | 0 | 47.6 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-30 | 152 | 3,962 | 29.4 | 14.4 | 20 | 14.4 | 36 | 0 | 37.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2017-08-31 | 235 | 4,995 | 30.3 | 14.6 | 17 | 14.5 | 37.1 | 0 | 47 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-01 | 233 | 4,105 | 30.3 | 15.4 | 13 | 15 | 37.1 | 0 | 51.7 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-09-02 | 454 | 6,539 | 29.4 | 14.6 | 14 | 17.4 | 36.4 | 0 | 53.6 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-09-03 | 430 | 6,070 | 29.1 | 15.9 | 20 | 20 | 48.6 | 0 | 54.2 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-09-04 | 303 | 2,139 | 28.7 | 16.2 | 25 | 21 | 50.4 | 0 | 51.3 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-09-05 | 208 | 2,180 | 28.9 | 16.2 | 27 | 16.9 | 41.4 | 0 | 44 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-06 | 199 | 1,859 | 29.9 | 16.6 | 26 | 13.9 | 33.1 | 0 | 40.9 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-07 | 154 | 2,334 | 30.6 | 17 | 18 | 15.5 | 33.8 | 0 | 44.7 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-08 | 346 | 4,098 | 29.8 | 17 | 19 | 15 | 37.8 | 0 | 46.9 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-09 | 61 | 814 | 30.4 | 17.6 | 21 | 14.1 | 36.7 | 0 | 41.8 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-10 | 150 | 2,257 | 29.5 | 16.3 | 27 | 13.2 | 35.6 | 0 | 47.9 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-11 | 249 | 3,511 | 30.8 | 17.5 | 19 | 14.7 | 38.5 | 0 | 51 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-09-12 | 165 | 3,192 | 30.9 | 17.3 | 19 | 15.9 | 39.2 | 0 | 49.5 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-13 | 177 | 2,452 | 30.4 | 17 | 19 | 17.9 | 41 | 0 | 46 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-14 | 370 | 6,445 | 31 | 16.3 | 19 | 15 | 34.2 | 0 | 45.9 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-15 | 211 | 3,553 | 31.7 | 16.1 | 17 | 11.6 | 29.5 | 0 | 41.4 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-16 | 188 | 2,451 | 31.5 | 16.5 | 17 | 13.3 | 31.7 | 0 | 48.1 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-17 | 135 | 3,002 | 32.4 | 15.6 | 19 | 10.7 | 28.8 | 0 | 48.6 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-18 | 137 | 3,089 | 32.5 | 16.9 | 16 | 15.5 | 31.3 | 0 | 48 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-19 | 6 | 6 | 32.2 | 17.6 | 20 | 13 | 29.2 | 0 | 48 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-20 | 26 | 147 | 30.6 | 19.4 | 26 | 16.3 | 40 | 0 | 50.4 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-09-21 | 63 | 1,007 | 31.6 | 19.8 | 20 | 18.6 | 45.4 | 0 | 55.4 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-09-22 | 45 | 708 | 30.9 | 18.9 | 18 | 17.2 | 43.2 | 0 | 50.8 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-09-23 | 62 | 930 | 31 | 18.4 | 21 | 16.8 | 43.6 | 0 | 49.2 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-24 | 9 | 71 | 31 | 18.7 | 18 | 19.3 | 48.6 | 0 | 56.5 | extremo | 1 |
| 2017-09-25 | 14 | 229 | 31.8 | 18.3 | 18 | 17.3 | 43.2 | 0 | 46.2 | muy_alto | 1 |
| 2017-09-26 | 0 | 0 | 30.1 | 18.3 | 26 | 15 | 36.4 | 1.2 | 41.2 | muy_alto | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
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
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 26 Sept.
58% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 56,767 ha in 2016.
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.
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.
Inside the perimeter there were about 83 hectares of built-up land and about 8,400 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
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Aug | 30.5 °C | 21 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 24 Aug | 31.0 °C | 16 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 25 Aug | 30.9 °C | 14 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 26 Aug | 29.5 °C | 19 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 27 Aug | 29.3 °C | 23 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 28 Aug | 29.0 °C | 17 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 29 Aug | 27.1 °C | 23 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 30 Aug | 29.4 °C | 20 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 31 Aug | 30.3 °C | 17 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 1 Sept | 30.3 °C | 13 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 2 Sept | 29.4 °C | 14 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 3 Sept | 29.1 °C | 20 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 4 Sept | 28.7 °C | 25 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 5 Sept | 28.9 °C | 27 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 6 Sept | 29.9 °C | 26 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 7 Sept | 30.6 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 8 Sept | 29.8 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 9 Sept | 30.4 °C | 21 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 10 Sept | 29.5 °C | 27 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 11 Sept | 30.8 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 12 Sept | 30.9 °C | 19 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 13 Sept | 30.4 °C | 19 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 14 Sept | 31.0 °C | 19 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 15 Sept | 31.7 °C | 17 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 16 Sept | 31.5 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 17 Sept | 32.4 °C | 19 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 18 Sept | 32.5 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 19 Sept | 32.2 °C | 20 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 20 Sept | 30.6 °C | 26 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 21 Sept | 31.6 °C | 20 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 22 Sept | 30.9 °C | 18 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 23 Sept | 31.0 °C | 21 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 24 Sept | 31.0 °C | 18 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 25 Sept | 31.8 °C | 18 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 26 Sept after | 30.1 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 1.2 mm | Very high 41 |
It started with an FWI of 38.0, a minimum humidity of 21% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 47.
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.8 mm on 10 Sept.
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
It was 17.8 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 34 days, against 17 days.
None of its 47 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 42 of 47, 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 3.1 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
It was considered over on 25 Sept, and on 26 Sept 1.2 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 5 of 47, with a median of 3.1 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
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.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
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
RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version
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.
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.