Lupososhi fire, August 2019 Lupososhi, Chipili
The fire started on 27 August 2019 in Lupososhi, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 35,869 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 10th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 628 with a page). Number 5 in Zambia in 2019, of 243.
- Burnt area
- 35,869ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 17days
- 27 Aug 2019 – 12 Sept 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 27 Aug
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 1,517
- in a single hotspot: 196 MW
- Danger at start
- 35
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 22.9GW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
83% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 23,297 ha in 2016, 11,597 ha in 2017, 12,685 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 29,866 ha that had burned before.
- 16,517 ha Kawambwa fire, August 2016 123,335 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,213 ha Lupososhi fire, August 2017 19,800 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,413 ha Lupososhi fire, August 2018 8,962 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,282 ha Lupososhi fire, September 2018 10,351 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,071 ha Lupososhi fire, September 2016 3,518 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,272 ha Lupososhi fire, September 2016 10,125 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,085 ha Lupososhi fire, August 2017 3,125 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,065 ha Lupososhi fire, September 2017 7,536 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Lupososhi where it started35,954 ha reached on 22 Aug8.7 %
-
115 ha reached on 22 Aug0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Aug | 30.7 °C | 26 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 28 Aug | 31.4 °C | 20 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 29 Aug | 31.1 °C | 20 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 30 Aug | 30.8 °C | 21 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 31 Aug | 31.7 °C | 21 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 1 Sept | 32.3 °C | 15 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 2 Sept | 31.9 °C | 23 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 3 Sept | 29.6 °C | 27 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 4 Sept | 28.8 °C | 28 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 5 Sept | 31.1 °C | 24 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 6 Sept | 29.8 °C | 23 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 7 Sept | 27.0 °C | 23 % | 57 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 8 Sept | 23.9 °C | 31 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 9 Sept | 27.2 °C | 28 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 10 Sept | 28.3 °C | 29 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 11 Sept | 30.1 °C | 25 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 12 Sept | 31.4 °C | 28 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 13 Sept after | 31.2 °C | 26 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 14 Sept after | 31.2 °C | 24 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 15 Sept after | 32.7 °C | 20 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 16 Sept after | 30.4 °C | 27 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 17 Sept after | 30.5 °C | 28 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 18 Sept after | 30.9 °C | 25 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 19 Sept after | 31.0 °C | 24 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 20 Sept after | 31.5 °C | 23 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 21 Sept after | 31.0 °C | 23 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 22 Sept after | 32.0 °C | 21 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
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 · 1,517Every 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 Lupososhi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 27 August 2019 and 12 September 2019: 17 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 35,869 hectares (358.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Lupososhi (35,954 ha, 8.7 %); Chipili (115 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.3 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 57 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, class Very high.
- 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.
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 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.