Kigamba fire, June 2019 Kigamba, Cankuzo
The fire started on 15 June 2019 in Kigamba, Burundi, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,736 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the largest fire in Cankuzo since 2016 (of 16 with a page). The largest in Burundi in 2019, of 3.
- Burnt area
- 2,736ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 15 Jun 2019 – 21 Jun 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- communes
- Started on
- 15 Jun
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 67
- in a single hotspot: 71 MW
- Danger at start
- 16
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 710MW
- 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 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 27 Jun.
This area had burned before
62% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 944 ha in 2016, 256 ha in 2017, 942 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,689 ha that had burned before.
- 944 ha Kigamba fire, June 2016 1,375 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 942 ha Kigamba fire, June 2018 1,774 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 192 ha Kigamba fire, June 2017 1,101 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 64 ha Kigamba fire, June 2017 1,010 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Kigamba where it started2,721 ha reached on 13 Jun5.0 %
-
33 ha0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Jun | 26.1 °C | 47 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 16 Jun | 26.5 °C | 42 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 17 Jun | 26.4 °C | 42 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 18 Jun | 26.0 °C | 44 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 19 Jun | 26.4 °C | 45 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 20 Jun | 27.2 °C | 41 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 21 Jun | 27.8 °C | 41 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 22 Jun after | 25.9 °C | 46 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 23 Jun after | 26.8 °C | 42 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 24 Jun after | 27.8 °C | 41 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 25 Jun after | 25.6 °C | 45 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 26 Jun after | 25.4 °C | 51 % | 35 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 27 Jun after | 23.4 °C | 58 % | 26 km/h | 1.2 mm | Low 8 |
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 · 67Every 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 Kigamba fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 June 2019 and 21 June 2019: 7 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 2,736 hectares (27.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Kigamba (2,721 ha, 5.0 %); Cankuzo (33 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 27.8 °C, humidity dropped to 41 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 20, class Moderate.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Burundi (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 (Public Domain). 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.