Burned area
satellite only1,471ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- 3 Aug 2018 – 3 Aug 2018
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
CG · Republic of the Congo ·
Kindamba fire, August 2018 Kindamba
Out · last detection 3 Aug 2018, 00:30 UTC
The fire started on 3 August 2018 in Kindamba, Republic of the Congo, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,471 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 72th largest in Pool since 2016 (of 202 with a page). Number 18 in Republic of the Congo in 2018, of 62.
The power measured by the satellite is low (3.4 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-11-05matches 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 only1day
3 Aug 2018 to 3 Aug 2018: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 3 Aug 2018, 00:30 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 only3 Aug 2018
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 3 Aug 2018
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only68
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 3 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 3 Aug 2018 – 3 Aug 2018
+− 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 only105MW
Total radiative power on 3 August 2018; hotspots that day: 68.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 3 Aug 2018
+− 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
model11.1FWI · low
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 27.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 3 Aug 2018, 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
model28.9°C · 55% RH
High of 28.9 °C and minimum humidity of 55% on 3 August 2018; gusts of 23 km/h on 3 August 2018.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 3 Aug 2018 – 3 Aug 2018
- 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.
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
-
logName: Bambama → Kindamba.
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
What was saved on 5 November 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
- 1,471 ha
- Dates
- 3 Aug 2018 – 3 Aug 2018
- Name
- Kindamba
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/kindamba-2018-08?v=2026-11-05A 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 kindamba-2018-08.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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-08-03 | 68 | 105 | 28.9 | 18.4 | 55 | 8.9 | 22.7 | 0 | 11.1 | bajo | 1 |
| 2018-08-04 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 20 | 71 | 11.3 | 28.1 | 0 | 9.7 | bajo | 0 |
| 2018-08-05 | 0 | 0 | 26.1 | 18.8 | 64 | 13.8 | 31.7 | 0 | 10.7 | bajo | 0 |
| 2018-08-06 | 0 | 0 | 26.7 | 18.6 | 59 | 10.6 | 26.6 | 0.2 | 10.6 | bajo | 0 |
| 2018-08-07 | 0 | 0 | 27.4 | 17.8 | 58 | 10.2 | 27.4 | 0 | 11.1 | bajo | 0 |
| 2018-08-08 | 0 | 0 | 25.7 | 19.2 | 64 | 11.8 | 27 | 0.2 | 11.9 | moderado | 0 |
| 2018-08-09 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 19 | 61 | 9.9 | 23.8 | 1 | 7.5 | bajo | 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). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 1,471ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 1day
- 3 Aug 2018 – 3 Aug 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 3 Aug
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 68
- in a single hotspot: 3 MW
- Danger at start
- 11
- Low · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 105MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
3 Aug3 Aug
How it evolved, day by day
3 Aug 2018 · 105 MW · 68
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
29°high
23km/h · peak gust
55%lowest humidity
It had gone 27 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 9 Aug.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
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
-
Kindamba where it started1,480 ha reached on 3 Aug0.2 %
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.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Aug | 28.9 °C | 55 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 4 Aug after | 25.0 °C | 71 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 5 Aug after | 26.1 °C | 64 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 6 Aug after | 26.7 °C | 59 % | 27 km/h | 0.2 mm | Low 11 |
| 7 Aug after | 27.4 °C | 58 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 8 Aug after | 25.7 °C | 64 % | 27 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 9 Aug after | 28.0 °C | 61 % | 24 km/h | 1.0 mm | Low 8 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 11.1, a minimum humidity of 55% and 27 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 23.
FWI at the start
11.1
Minimum humidity
55 %
Days without rain
27
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Kindamba fire, August 2018
1,471 ha
1 day
FWI 11.1
Min. humidity 55 %
Mayama fire, July 2025
1,044 ha
2 days
FWI 10.6
Min. humidity 54 %
104 km away, in 2025
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.1 mm on 26 Jul.
Ngabé fire, July 2017
1,058 ha
9 days
FWI 12.0
Min. humidity 55 %
102 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.5 mm on 7 Aug.
Djambala fire, July 2019
1,252 ha
4 days
FWI 11.2
Min. humidity 55 %
10 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Djambala fire, August 2019
1,055 ha
5 days
FWI 11.5
Min. humidity 55 %
31 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Djambala fire, June 2016
1,282 ha
2 days
FWI 10.1
Min. humidity 56 %
75 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.5 mm on 30 Jun.
What happened to them
- 3 days
- median duration
- 1,233 ha
- median area
- 100 %
- went past 1,000 ha
- 1.6 mm
- rain at the end (median; 11 of 23 had it)
It burned an area similar to its twins (1,471 ha against a median of 1,233 ha) and lasted 1 day, against 3 days.
In 12 of 23, 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 1.6 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
1.0 mmfirst rain
9 Aug6 days after it ended
23km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 3 Aug, and on 9 Aug 1.0 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 11 of 23, with a median of 1.6 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 · 27 Jul 2018
After · 10 Aug 2018
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 · 68Every 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 Kindamba fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 August 2018 and 3 August 2018: 1 day 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 1,471 hectares (14.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Kindamba (1,480 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.9 °C, humidity dropped to 55 % and gusts hit 23 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 11, class Low.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Republic of the Congo (geoBoundaries ADM2). 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: 23. Their median duration was 3 days and their median area 1,233 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 12 of 23, 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 1.6 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.
- Name: Bambama → Kindamba.
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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 68 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.
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 (Map Library 2007, nombres de Wikidata) (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.