Lodja fire, 8 June 2019 Lodja
The fire started on 8 June 2019 in Lodja, Congo - Kinshasa, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,660 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 70th largest in Sankuru since 2016 (of 187 with a page). Number 23 in Congo - Kinshasa in 2019, of 115.
- Burnt area
- 9,660ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 18days
- 8 Jun 2019 – 25 Jun 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- territories
- Started on
- 8 Jun
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 831
- in a single hotspot: 171 MW
- Danger at start
- 12
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 8.5GW
- 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 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.7 mm on 10 Jul.
This area had burned before
79% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 6,130 ha in 2016, 4,446 ha in 2017, 6,139 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 7,587 ha that had burned before.
- 4,299 ha Lodja fire, June 2016 22,381 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,275 ha Lodja fire, June 2017 6,480 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 450 ha Lodja fire, June 2016 41,432 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 407 ha Lodja fire, July 2018 85,816 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Lodja where it started9,725 ha reached on 7 Jun0.8 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Jun | 32.5 °C | 34 % | 15 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 8 Jun | 31.2 °C | 44 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 9 Jun | 31.5 °C | 41 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 10 Jun | 32.5 °C | 31 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 11 Jun | 32.7 °C | 30 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 12 Jun | 33.3 °C | 30 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 13 Jun | 33.7 °C | 34 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 14 Jun | 32.1 °C | 41 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 15 Jun | 31.2 °C | 42 % | 22 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 16 Jun | 31.3 °C | 49 % | 23 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 17 Jun | 33.1 °C | 38 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 18 Jun | 33.3 °C | 33 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 19 Jun | 32.2 °C | 42 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 20 Jun | 34.4 °C | 34 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 21 Jun | 33.6 °C | 31 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 22 Jun | 31.2 °C | 42 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 23 Jun | 32.9 °C | 38 % | 24 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 23 |
| 24 Jun | 32.8 °C | 41 % | 27 km/h | 1.5 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 25 Jun | 31.9 °C | 40 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 26 Jun after | 31.7 °C | 50 % | 27 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 27 Jun after | 33.0 °C | 50 % | 22 km/h | 7.8 mm | Very low 4 |
| 28 Jun after | 29.4 °C | 64 % | 26 km/h | 2.3 mm | Very low 3 |
| 29 Jun after | 31.1 °C | 50 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 30 Jun after | 32.3 °C | 45 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 1 Jul after | 33.9 °C | 36 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 2 Jul after | 32.0 °C | 42 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 3 Jul after | 32.4 °C | 43 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 4 Jul after | 33.8 °C | 33 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 5 Jul after | 33.6 °C | 34 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 6 Jul after | 31.3 °C | 42 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 7 Jul after | 30.7 °C | 46 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 8 Jul after | 31.5 °C | 50 % | 26 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 9 Jul after | 31.5 °C | 49 % | 27 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 22 |
| 10 Jul after | 26.8 °C | 71 % | 18 km/h | 1.7 mm | Low 5 |
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 · 831Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 116,070 haLodja21 June 2022 · 28 days · 15 km away
- 121,496 haLodja12 July 2023 · 11 days · 18 km away
- 85,816 haLodja3 July 2018 · 16 days · 23 km away
- 70,422 haLodja18 July 2026 · 17 days · 27 km away
- 100,633 haLodja16 June 2024 · 22 days · 32 km away
- 110,467 haKatako-Kombe23 May 2026 · 52 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Lodja fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 June 2019 and 25 June 2019: 18 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 9,660 hectares (96.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Lodja (9,725 ha, 0.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 30 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Congo - Kinshasa (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 (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.