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ZM · Zambia · –

Kawambwa fire, 10 August 2018 Kawambwa

Out · last detection 25 Aug 2018, 11:14 UTC

The fire started on 10 August 2018 in Kawambwa, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,320 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 256th largest in Luapula since 2016 (of 447 with a page). Number 101 in Zambia in 2018, of 204.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Kawambwa · 2019Kawambwa · 2024Kawambwa · 2017Kawambwa · 2016

Burnt area
4,320ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
10 Aug 2018 – 25 Aug 2018
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
10 Aug
2018
Heat detections
134
in a single hotspot: 33 MW
Danger at start
49
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
131MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Aug25 Aug
25 Aug 2018

How it evolved, day by day

10 Aug 2018 · 14 MW · 7 14 Aug 2018 · 55 MW · 7 15 Aug 2018 · 305 MW · 40 16 Aug 2018 · 498 MW · 41 17 Aug 2018 · 194 MW · 17 18 Aug 2018 · 86 MW · 7 19 Aug 2018 · 30 MW · 5 20 Aug 2018 · 81 MW · 6 21 Aug 2018 · 6 MW · 1 25 Aug 2018 · 38 MW · 3
10 Aug 16 Aug 19 Aug 21 Aug

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
41km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

99% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,253 ha in 2016, 4,206 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,273 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 2.7% of the area of London (43 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Kawambwa where it started
    4,349 ha reached on 10 Aug
    0.5 %

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 2020
Built-up area2.4 ha
Residents≈ 250

Inside the perimeter there were about 2.4 hectares of built-up land and about 250 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)

Started with 60 days without rain: 91 % of the area in Zambia

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
10 Aug 30.7 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
11 Aug 30.6 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
12 Aug 29.4 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
13 Aug 29.0 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
14 Aug 28.6 °C 27 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
15 Aug 29.2 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
16 Aug 29.0 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Aug 29.6 °C 22 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
18 Aug 30.6 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
19 Aug 29.1 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
20 Aug 29.1 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Aug 29.3 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
22 Aug 31.2 °C 22 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
23 Aug 31.0 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Aug 29.6 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Aug 29.9 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
26 Aug after 30.4 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Aug after 30.2 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
28 Aug after 30.4 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
29 Aug after 28.9 °C 22 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
30 Aug after 28.7 °C 24 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
31 Aug after 29.2 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Sept after 29.7 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
2 Sept after 29.6 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
3 Sept after 32.1 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 Sept after 31.4 °C 22 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 49.1, a minimum humidity of 19% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 34.

FWI at the start 49.1
Minimum humidity 19 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Kawambwa fire, August 2019
5,360 ha 14 days FWI 48.1 Min. humidity 19 % 55 km away, in 2019

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

15 days
median duration
4,248 ha
median area
18 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 6 of 34 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (4,320 ha against a median of 4,248 ha) and lasted 16 days, against 15 days.

In 28 of 34, 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
41km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 25 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 6 of 34, 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.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 3 Aug 2018
After · 1 Sept 2018

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 · 134Every 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 Zambia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kawambwa fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 10 August 2018 to 25 August 2018 (16 days). The perimeter dates it from 14 August 2018 to 18 August 2018.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,320 hectares (43.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Kawambwa (4,349 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.2 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zambia (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: 34. Their median duration was 15 days and their median area 4,248 ha; 18 % went past 10,000 ha. In 28 of 34, 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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 18 August 2018 → 25 August 2018.
  2. Start date: 14 August 2018 → 10 August 2018.

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.

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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 14 August 2018 to 18 August 2018. 134 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.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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 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.