Lodja fire, 7 June 2021 Lodja, Katako-Kombe
The fire started on 7 June 2021 in Lodja, Congo - Kinshasa, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,491 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 74th largest in Sankuru since 2016 (of 187 with a page). Number 17 in Congo - Kinshasa in 2021, of 97.
- Burnt area
- 9,491ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 7 Jun 2021 – 17 Jun 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- territories
- Started on
- 7 Jun
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 535
- in a single hotspot: 154 MW
- Danger at start
- 12
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 6.5GW
- 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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 8,294 ha in 2016, 7,640 ha in 2017, 11,127 ha in 2018, 6,976 ha in 2019, 8,597 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 9,499 ha that had burned before.
- 8,305 ha Lodja fire, May 2018 23,308 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,768 ha Lodja fire, June 2016 7,411 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,486 ha Lodja fire, June 2020 42,241 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,249 ha Katako-Kombe fire, May 2017 9,736 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,952 ha Katako-Kombe fire, May 2016 7,007 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,036 ha Katako-Kombe fire, June 2019 7,996 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 203 ha Lodja fire, June 2019 11,616 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Lodja where it started6,506 ha reached on 7 Jun0.5 %
-
3,048 ha reached on 7 Jun0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Jun | 30.7 °C | 54 % | 37 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 8 Jun | 34.2 °C | 29 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 9 Jun | 34.4 °C | 30 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 10 Jun | 33.4 °C | 33 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 11 Jun | 35.0 °C | 26 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 12 Jun | 34.3 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 13 Jun | 34.6 °C | 24 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 14 Jun | 33.4 °C | 28 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 15 Jun | 33.4 °C | 30 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 16 Jun | 34.2 °C | 24 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 17 Jun | 33.4 °C | 27 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 18 Jun after | 30.6 °C | 46 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 19 Jun after | 32.6 °C | 35 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 20 Jun after | 34.4 °C | 31 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 21 Jun after | 33.6 °C | 26 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 22 Jun after | 30.7 °C | 35 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 23 Jun after | 32.3 °C | 33 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 24 Jun after | 31.4 °C | 44 % | 26 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 26 |
| 25 Jun after | 30.4 °C | 49 % | 26 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 23 |
| 26 Jun after | 33.8 °C | 34 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 27 Jun after | 35.7 °C | 18 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
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 · 535Every 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 Lodja fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 7 June 2021 and 17 June 2021: 11 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 9,491 hectares (94.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Lodja (6,506 ha, 0.5 %); Katako-Kombe (3,048 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.0 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, 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.